Home athlete Yulduz Dzhumabayeva today had two of her bronze medals from yesterday’s women’s 45 kilograms event at the 2018 International Weightlifting Federation World Championships upgraded to silver ©IWF

Turkmenistan's Yulduz Dzhumabayeva today had two of her bronze medals from yesterday’s women’s 45 kilograms event here at the 2018 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships upgraded to silver after the world governing body decided to accept one of her clean and jerk attempts as a good lift.

Dzhumabayeva rounded out all three podiums on the first day of medal action with 75kg in the snatch and 94kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 169kg.

It appeared initially as though Dzhumabayeva had broken the junior world standard in the clean and jerk and total after managing 104kg on her second attempt.

But amid confusion over the lifting order, it was nullified on a technicality and she was told to attempt 105kg instead.

A no lift at that weight and then 107kg meant the 20-year-old had to settle for two third-place finishes as opposed to what would have been two silver medals to go with her snatch bronze.

The IWF has now confirmed, however, that the second clean and jerk attempt has been accepted as a good lift, increasing her total to 179kg.

It means Thailand's Chiraphan Nanthawong, who was the silver medallist in the clean and jerk with 95kg and total with 171kg, has been demoted to bronze in both cases.

Compatriot Thunya Sukcharoen secured a clean sweep of gold medals, achieving best lifts of 80kg in the snatch and 106kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 186kg, and that remains unaffected.

"Due to consecutive mistakes made by the coach and some technical officials in the women’s 45kg bodyweight category at the second attempt in the clean and jerk (104kg) of Yulduz Dzhumabayeva, the IWF arranged a meeting with the technical officials involved," an IWF statement reads.

"Following discussions, and in order not to harm the athlete’s achievement, a unanimous decision was taken that the second clean and jerk attempt (104kg) was accepted as good lift.

"Consequently, Yulduz Dzhumabayeva received silver medals in the clean and jerk and in the total."

Yulduz Dzhumabayeva, right, had initially had to settle for three bronze medals ©IWF
Yulduz Dzhumabayeva, right, had initially had to settle for three bronze medals ©IWF

There were jubilant scenes inside the venue here today as all three medal ceremonies were repeated.

It came on the same day that insidethegames revealed that ineligible weightlifters from Turkmenistan are being allowed to take part in the World Championships after a controversial vote by the IWF Executive Board.

It is believed the decision was made against the advice of the IWF Secretariat, who advised that the hosts should be treated the same as everybody else.

The Board has effectively voted against its own rules, as the IWF regulations clearly state that only eligible athletes "may participate".

Throughout 2018, the IWF has clamped down on lifters who fail to update their whereabouts information on the global anti-doping database, which is operated by the World Anti-Doping Agency and is an important tool for out-of-competition testing.

This strict approach - in line with other tough policies adopted by the IWF - led to about 100 athletes being barred from a range of events including the Pan American Championships, the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the IWF World Championships.

By far the biggest number of exclusions was for the World Championships, with 79 athletes told they were ineligible because of their failure to log their whereabouts information on the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System.

But an exception has been made for four of them, all men from Turkmenistan, and while the other 75 are excluded, those four locals - Omarguly Handurdyyev in the 61kg category, Pirguly Pirgulyyev and Izzatbek Meredov in the 89kg and Ovez Ovezov in the 102kg - have been put on the start list as "extras".

They are not good enough to compete in the A groups and would not be allowed to win any medals, but under World Championships regulations they should not be taking part at all.

Regulation 14 of this IWF event states that any athlete who has not provided "accurate and complete" information about their whereabouts for the past three months is not eligible.

The Turkmenistan athletes had not done so.