India added three more medals in weightlifting; Tejas Shirse ends 60-year wait for Commonwealth Games

Glasgow: India’s Tejas Shirse, second from left, Khailan Vitalis of Saint Lucia, left, and others compete in the Men’s 110m Hurdles Round 1 (PTI Photo) Indian weightlifters are literally carrying the weight of expectation in Glasgow. After Mirabai Chan’s gold and Rishikanta Singh’s silver, Muthupandi Raja, Gyaneshwari Yadav and Bindyarani Devi added two silvers and a bronze to take the Indian weightlifting tally to five medals. Gyaneshwari, 23, lifted a total of 199kg after a thrilling battle with Nigeria’s Onom Omolola Didih, who won gold with a Games record total of 206kg. Canadian Rebeka Groulxová took the bronze with 178 kg. A confident Gyaneshwari progressed smoothly through both disciplines. She opened with 82kg in the clean and jerk before successfully lifting 85kg and 88kg in her next two attempts. She also increased the weight with each throw attempt and successfully lifted 103 kg, 107 kg and 111 kg. However, Didih, who lifted 93kg in the snatch, maintained her lead with clean and jerky lifts of 105kg, 110kg and 113kg. Later on Monday, Bindyarani lifted a total of 199 kg to win bronze in the women’s 58 kg category. The 27-year-old from Manipur scored 87 kg in the clean and jerk and 112 kg in the throw. Bindyarani completed all three snatch attempts, lifting 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. In the clean and jerk, she failed 110kg in her opening attempt, but bravely increased the weight to 112kg and completed the lift. In her last attempt, she failed at 116 kg. Even a successful lift of 116 kg would not change the color of her medal, as it would bring her a total of only 203 kg. Canada’s Ann-Sophie Taschereau won silver with 215kg, while Nigeria’s Rafiatu Folashade Lawal won gold with a Games record total of 229kg. Earlier, the 26-year-old Raja clinched silver in the men’s 65kg category late on Sunday night with a total of 286kg. He lifted 126kg in the clean and 160kg in the throw to finish behind Malaysia’s Muhamad Aznil bin Bidin, who won gold with a Games record total of 299kg. Morea Baru from Papua New Guinea took the bronze with 282 kg. It was also an encouraging day in athletics for India, with Tejas Shirse qualifying for the men’s 110m hurdles final. The national record holder became the first Indian in 60 years to reach the final of the Commonwealth Games in men’s sprint hurdles. The last to do so was Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, who finished seventh in the equivalent of the 120-yard hurdles at the 1966 Games in Kingston, Jamaica. The Maharashtra athlete clocked 13.76 seconds to finish sixth overall and third in Heat 1. In the long jump, M Sreeshankar and Lokesh Sathyanathan qualified for the men’s final. Sreeshankar jumped 8.01m in his opening attempt to break the automatic qualifying standard of 8.00m. Lokesh finished fourth in Group B with an opening jump of 7.77m to advance as one of the top 12. Indian boxer Sachin Siwach stormed into the quarter-finals of the men’s 60kg event after defeating England’s William Hewitt 4-1 on points in the round of 16 on Monday. In the men’s 80kg category, Ankush Panghal dominated Antigua and Barbuda’s Zalaan Jan, winning 5-0 unanimously to reach the quarterfinals.