TEHRAN - Mirmostafa Javadi claimed a silver medal at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships on Sunday.

The Iranian weightlifter lifted 163kg in snatch in the 81kg weight class and 204kg in clean and jerk and claimed the silver with a total of 367kg.

Bulgaria's Karlos Nasar won the gold medal with 374kg. The bronze medal went to Moldovan Marin Robu with 363kg.

The 2021 World Weightlifting Championships are being held from Dec. 7 to 17 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Due to concerns about the rapid spread of Omicron variant and the being held shortly after Olympics and Chinese National Games, the tournament faces the absence of many strong competitors.

A total of 10 Olympic champions from Tokyo four months ago, 15 current world champions, and entire teams from China and North Korea decided not to compete.