Kuo Hsing-Chun from Chinese Taipei made a six-from-six 101-130-231 and could become the second C Group medallist of the week here, after Aniq Kasdan achieved the feat in the men’s 61kg.

Kuo was well short of her world records - she holds all three at this weight - but was more than pleased with her performance after her preparations were disrupted by injury.

Asked if it was her first career win in a C Group, five-time world champion Kuo laughed and explained why she had made such a low entry total of 210kg.

"I have had injury problems and was not doing much training two months ago.

"I got up to 90 in snatch and 120 in clean and jerk and I told my coach I should open lower here.

"It worked, because today’s performance was great, my first six-from-six this year. I’m very happy.

"I will be working really hard in the next few weeks before I go to Hangzhou."

That will be for the Asian Games, where weightlifting starts on September 30. Kuo won in the old 58kg category at the last Asian Games in Indonesia.

Kuo's 231kg was only 1kg lower than her best effort in qualifying for Paris 2024, despite her recent fitness problems.

Two other totals in the C Group were high enough to make the top 10 in qualifying - Rafiatu Lawal’s 100-125-225 and Anyelin Venegas’s 95-124-219.

The Nigerian Lawal sped through her lifts, missing only the last one and improving her career best - set when she won the African title in May - by 8kg.

It was still not enough for Lawal and she was almost in tears as she left the platform after missing her final attempt.

"I wanted more,” she said. 

"I’ve improved my clean and jerk and I know I can do better."

In a month of hard training back home in Nigeria, Lawal was working alongside her team-mate Adijat Olarinoye, who also lifted in the C Group and made a career best with 95-120-215.

Both won Commonwealth Games gold last year, Lawal at 59kg and Olarinoye at 55kg.

"They push each other in training, they are both hungry to qualify," said coach Aduche Ojadi, a double Olympian.

If all goes to plan, the next outing for both women will be at the IWF Grand Prix II in Qatar in December.

Venegas, from Venezuela, had made totals between 208kg and 212kg in all of her seven competitions in the past four years but this time she was much higher on 219kg despite missing three times.

That would have put her ninth in qualifying, although with two sessions to come there will be plenty more changes. 

The rankings will be updated a few days after the end of these Championships.

Britain's Zoe Smith made 90-113-203 but she looked good for more with two attempts to come and had further cause to dislike the pressout rule.

Her second clean and jerk of 116kg was ruled a no-lift for pressout, the jury stuck with the decision despite a challenge, and Smith failed at the same weight with her final attempt.

There was also an impressive performance by the speaker, the American Sally Van de Water, who had to shout the names and numbers for a few minutes when the microphone failed.

She had done it before in similar circumstances in the United States and said, "The show must go on."