Yap breaks a sweat then breaks world record
He was literally sweating to make weight.
And when he did, Singapore teenager Matthew Yap broke two world records in the men's Under-66kg sub-junior division (14- to 18-year-olds) at the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championships in Alappuzha in Kerala, India.
On Tuesday, the 18-year-old also became the new Asian champion as he smashed Swede Eddie Berglund's four-year-old world record of 585kg by 3kg.
Yap's 588kg total comprises three segments. He notched another world mark in the squat when he overtook his previous record of 208kg, set in June, by first lifting 208.5kg, and then 215.5kg.
He bench-pressed a national record of 135kg and set an Asian record in the dead lift with 237.5kg, surpassing Kazakh Dmitriy Chebanov's previous Asian best of 230kg.
The Republic Polytechnic student said: "This victory was definitely a sweet one, but that came with struggles right up to the hour before weigh-ins, too.
"I sat in the sauna, close to blacking out, in my final-ditch attempt to make weight at 66kg. I did make it.
"Things began looking better after my first squat attempt (190kg), when my coach and brother Marcus told me to make a massive 18.5kg jump to rewrite my old world record of 208kg, with a 208.5kg squat.
"I succeeded, and then we made a more conservative jump to 215.5kg, which felt really good and boosted my confidence."
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