Olympics: Armenian lifter rushed to hospital with injury

RIO DE JANEIRO - Armenian weightlifter Andranik Karapetyan was rushed to hospital in agony after appearing to dislocate his elbow during the men's 77kg competition at the Rio Olympics.

The 20-year-old was in contention for a bronze medal when he attempted to lift 195kg in the clean and jerk.

Halfway through the attempt his left elbow seemed to pop out and Karapetyan screamed in agony before being helped off the platform in tears by members of his coaching team.

A short while later he was loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher, with a saline drip attached to him, as several of his team-mates and Armenian staff looked on distraught.

Kazakhstan's Nijat Rahimov won gold while Lyu Xiaojun of China took silver and Egypt's Mohamed Mahmoud claimed bronze.

It comes after China's Xiang Yianmei earlier dropped a barbell stacked with 118kg on the back of her head, drawing gasps from the crowd.

She brushed off the incident to win the women's 69kg category.

"I got hurt a little bit and it feels sore now when I nod my head," she said later.