The Venezuelan only came fourth in the opening snatch competition with a lift of 144kg, which was 10kg shy of Latvian Ritvars Suharevs' winning effort of 154kg.

Suharevs then had a calamitous time of it in the clean and jerk, however, failing to register a lift with his three attempts to slide out of overall contention.

Sanchez topped the clean and jerk pile with an effort of 185kg, and his combined 329kg was enough to give him overall honours.

He beat Colombia's Juan Felipe Solis Arboleda, who managed a total of 328kg, by the slimmest of margins. 

The Colombian was second in both the snatch and clean and jerk, with lifts of 147kg and 181kg respectively.

Karen Avagyan of Armenia bagged overall bronze on 318kg, following a third place finish in the snatch and a fifth in the clean and jerk.

South Korea's Seohyun Bang took clean and jerk bronze but missed the overall podium, finishing on 317kg.

The women's 69kg category was also contested today at the Spice Arena, with Ecuador's Angie Paola Palacios Dajomes taking the overall title after winning the snatch.

Her snatch lift of 101kg was notably better than second-placed Rebekah Tiler of Britain, who hauled up 96kg.

The Ecuadorian was only fourth in the clean and jerk with 117kg, but nobody could beat her combined haul of 218kg.

Tiler, third in the clean and jerk with 121kg, came agonisingly close to topping the overall podium but finished on 217kg for silver.

Eileen Cikamatana of Fiji won the clean and jerk title with 122kg which placed her third overall on 215kg.

She had earlier finished fourth in the snatch on 93kg, the same lifted as China's third-placed Jing Tang who was awarded bronze due to a lighter bodyweight.

Jing also won clean and jerk silver on 121kg, but this was only good enough for fourth overall.