INDIA/UNITED KINGDOM: It has been an eventful day for Indians at Brimingham today. Mirabai Chanu fulfilled her promise to win India’s first gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Chanu moved ahead of all her rivals with her first lift in the clean and jerk section to seal the first gold in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event. It was India’s third medal of the day in sports after Sanket Sargar (silver) and Gururaja (bronze) which were delivered earlier in the day.
Mirabai is one of the most promising weightlifters of the country. She already had a Commonwealth Games silver (2014) and gold (2018) in her kitty before winning the yellow metal again in 2022. She also won a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships and has several Commonwealth Championship medals and an Asian Championship medal as well.
Gururaja Poojary bagged the bronze for India. Poojary participated in the 61kg category, finishing third in the standings with a total of 269 kg lift. He scored the fourth rank with a best of 118 kg lift in the finals.
Previously, weightlifter Sanket Sargar opened the book of medals for India, he brought India’s first Silver medal for this year.
Sanket lifted 135 kg in the first attempt but missed a weight of 139 kg in his further attempts to the finals. He was defeated by a narrow margin of 1kg by Mohamad Aniq bin Kasdan.
Sanket had an elbow injury before his final lifting, thus failing to achieve Gold. Sagar in a statement says, “In the 75th year of independence, I dedicate this medal to the freedom fighters who gave us freedom.”
Talking about the boxing match, Shiva Thapa gave a tough competition to Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch, who won his men’s Round of 32 bouts. India is rich in talent and it has nothing to do with age, hence proven by 14-year-old squash player Anahat Singh who made a winning start in the women’s singles competition.
India’s Mayuri Lute and Triyasha Paul qualified the 20th and 23rd respectively in the Cycling Women’s Sprint but failed to qualify for the 1/8 Finals. India here stands at the ninth position in the medal tally list.
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