Ajaya Babu won silver in 79kg weightlifting after a record-breaking bout at the Commonwealth Games

Erry Hidayat Muhammad of Malaysia with gold medal, Valluri Ajaya Babu of India with silver medal left and Chris Murray of England with bronze medal right. (AP) India’s fast-rising weightlifter Valluri Ajaya Babu won a silver medal in the men’s 79kg category at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, adding another medal to India’s tally in the sport.The 21-year-old from Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh lifted a Commonwealth Games record of 149kg in the clean and 181kg in the throw for a total of 330kg. He finished just one kilogram behind Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who won gold with a Games record total of 331kg (147kg jerk + 184kg clean and jerk).The Englishman Chris Murray won the bronze medal with a total lift of 325 kg.The battle for the gold was a clean sweep until the final lifts. Hidayat first lifted 181kg to set a new Commonwealth Games record. Ajaya Babu then matched and bettered that effort by lifting 181kg in his final attempt, bringing his total to 330kg. Hidayat responded by successfully lifting 184kg in his final attempt to regain the record and secure the gold medal.Earlier in the bout, Ajaya Babu recovered from a failed second attempt at 149kg. He lifted the same weight in his third and final attempt to set a new Commonwealth Games record, finishing first in the standings ahead of Chris Murray (148kg) and Erry Hidayat Muhammad (147kg).Ajaya Babu opened the competition with a successful lift of 145 kg in the jerk before finishing the leg with a record lift.The silver medal was India’s sixth medal in weightlifting at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.Ajaya Babu has been among the best Indian weightlifters in recent years. At the 2025 Commonwealth Championship in Ahmedabad, he won gold in the men’s 79 kg category with a personal best total of 335 kg (152 kg jerk + 183 kg clean and jerk), setting new championship records. This performance earned him direct qualification for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.He won gold medals in both the junior and senior men’s 81kg categories at the 2024 Commonwealth Championships in Suva, Fiji.He also competed at the 2025 World Championships in Ford, Norway, finishing 16th overall in a field of 39 lifters.