Lifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga creates CWG record, wins second gold for India

BIRMINGHAM: India won a second gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham as weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga created history by capturing a gold medal with a record-breaking combined lift of 300 kg in men's 67 kg final on Sunday.

This is the nation's its fifth medal at CWG 2022 and second gold medal at the event. Jeremy had achieved a record-breaking 140 kg lift in the snatch category and 160 kg in the Clean and Jerk category, which combined to give him a lift of 300 kg, which is a record at the Commonwealth Games.

Jeremy Lalrinnunga lifted 136 kg in his first Snatch attempt and moved to the top of the leaderboard. Edidiong Joseph Umoafia came second with 130 kg and Samoa's Vaipava Ioane at third with 127 kg at the time of his first attempt.

Lalrinnunga set up a new games record by lifting 140 kg in his second Snatch attempt.

He tried to better this record by going for 143 kg in his final attempt but failed. The Indian lifter finished the Snatch category with 140 kg, at the top of the table. Edidiong Joseph Umoafia was at second with 130 kg and Samoa's Vaipava Ioane at third with 127 kg at the end of the Snatch event.

In the Clean and Jerk event, Nigeria's Umoafia lifted 150 kg in the first attempt to take his combined lift to 280 kg. Jeremy now had to lift 154 kg in his first attempt to match the Nigerian, which he did successfully. With this, he set a new CWG record and brought himself to the lead in the overall competition with a combined lift of 294 kg.

In his second Clean and Jerk attempt, Jeremy lifted 160 kg to take the lead with a combined lift of 300 kg. By lifting 300 kg combined, he had set another new CWG record.

In his final C&J attempt, Jeremy tried to lift 165 kg but he failed. Nonetheless, his combined lift stayed at an unbeaten 300 kg.

Vaipava Ioane of Samoa gained the silver medal with a combined lift of 293 kg, amd the Bronze medal went to Nigeria's Edidiong Joseph Umoafia, who had the combined lift of 290 kg.