Wang Mingjuan of China successfully holds the weight to win the Women's 48kg weightlifting at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 2, 2006. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

Wang Mingjuan of China attempts a lift in the Women's 48kg weightlifting at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 2, 2006.  (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

Wang Mingjuan of China attempts a lift in the Women's 48kg weightlifting at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 2, 2006. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    Wang, world champion in 2002, 2003 and 2005, made her debut in the Asiad as she took the lead in both the snatch and clean and jerk.

    Leading in the snatch at 90kg, the 21-year-old Wang was the last one to lift in the jerk. She jerked 112kg in her first attempt to clinch the gold medal and continued to lift 116kg and finally finished her debut at 206kg.

    Pensiri Laosirikul of Thailand, 22, took the silver at 192kg and her compatriot Thongyim Bunphithak, bronze medalist at the Asian Championships in 2005, settled for the bronze at 191kg.

    "It is the first gold medal in the weightlifting competition. To be honest, I felt nervous but my determination to win the gold medal has never changed," Wang said after the competition.

    "I am not very excited with the gold medal here. Winter training will begin in December, and it is a decisive period for me to prepare for the Olympic Games in 2008," she added.

    "I am upset because I performed better at home," said Laosirikul.

    "I will work harder after coming back home and overcome Chinese in the Beijing Olympics," she added.

    Yodbangtoey Boossaba, president of the Thailand Weightlifting Association, told Xinhua that experiencing the Asian Games is more important to her strongwoman rather than winning gold medals.

    "We have never expected to win a gold medal in the women's 48kg.We don't have the power to beat the Chinese lifter in this category now, and I am satisfied with a silver and a bronze," she said.