Indian lifters sign off with 20 medals at Commonwealth Championships

GREATER NOIDA: Lovepreet Singh and Purnima Pandey finished on the podium on the final day as hosts India wrapped up the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships with a rich haul of 20 medals here on Sunday.

Indian weightlifters won a silver and a bronze medal on the last day of the competition.

India won nine gold, as many silver and two bronze medals in total.

Having clinched the silver in the last edition, Punjab lifter Lovepreet finished second best once again in the 109kg weight class after lifting a total of 341kg (154kg+187kg), which was below his 355kg (163kg+192kg) medal-winning effort during the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.

The CWG bronze medallist could have logged a better total had he not failed in his two snatch attempts of 158kg.

The 25-year-old, a former junior Asian bronze medal winner, just about managed to edge past Englishman Andrew Griffiths 340kg (155kg+185kg), who heaved a kilogram less than Lovepreet.

Gold medallist Taniela Tuisuva Rainibogi 363kg (163kg+200kg) of Fiji was competing with himself. The 25-year-old had secured the title with his first clean and jerk attempt of 188kg itself but went on to lift 195kg and 200kg respectively.

The other Indian lifter in action, last edition’s champion Purnima bagged the bronze medal in the women’s +87kg category.

Purnima lifted 227kg (102kg+125kg), two kilograms less than her 2021 total, to grab the last spot on the podium.

However, she was no match for the Samoan duo of Luniarra Sipaia 262kg (110kg+152kg) and Lesila Fiapule 250kg (110kg+140kg). The two completed a 1-2 finish for the island nation.

Sipaia and Fiapule’s total was a whopping 35kg and 23kg more than Purnima’s effort respectively.

In the final event of the tournament, India’s Paramvir Singh and Keshav Bissa made it a one-two for the hosts in the +109kg junior category, while 37-year-old 2018 Commonwealth Games champion Sanele Mao of Samoa entertained everyone with a total effort of 380kg (170kg+210kg) in the senior competition to take home the gold medal.

Indian lifters assert dominance

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Indian lifters reigned supreme in the five-day tournament in all three categories — youth, junior and senior.

India had fielded 19 lifters in the senior events out of which nine pulled off gold-winning performances.

The nine gold medallists were Komal Kohar (45kg), Gyaneshwari Yadav (49kg), Popy Hazarika (59kg), S Nirupama (64kg), Vanshita Verma (81kg), Mukund Aher (55kg), Shubham Todkar (61kg), Ajith N (73kg) and Ajay Singh (81kg).

Gyaneshwari, who won the gold medal in the absence of Tokyo Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu in the women’s 49 kg event, and Mukund, were awarded the ‘Best Lifters,’ in the junior category.

Samoa’s Don Opeloge (102kg), who smashed three Commonwealth records, and Jenly Wini Tegu (55kg) of Soloman Islands were named the ‘Best Lifters’ in the senior category.

India also swept the youth, junior and senior men’s and women’s team awards. (PTI)