Commonwealth Weightlifting C’ships: India’s medal tally soars to 11 as Ajith, Ajay secure gold

Noida (Uttar Pradesh) [India]: Weightlifters N Ajith and Ajay Singh secured gold while Harjinder Kaur bagged silver at the ongoing Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships on Friday.

Ajith, India’s current national champion topped the charts in 73 kg category while Ajay also defended his 81 kg title in men’s competition. Harjinder secured second position in the women’s 71 kg category, as per Olympics.com.

In the first session of the championship of the day at Greater Noida, Ajith, the only Asian Games bound Indian weightlifter playing the championships, secured gold with total lift of 308 kg (138kg snatch + 170kg clean and jerk).

England’s Jonathan Chin, with a combined lift of 286kg (125kg snatch + 161kg clean and jerk), bagged the silver. Sri Lanka’s Indika Chathuranga Dissanayake got bronze medla with a total weight of 285kg (130kg snatch + 155kg clean and jerk). A total of 11 lifters participated in the men’s 73kg senior category.

Later, Commonwealth Games 2022 medalist secured second position in the women’s 71 kg. She lifted a total of 211kg (91kg snatch + 120 clean and jerk). Australia’s Jacqueline Nichele got the gold medal with combined lift of 216kg (94kg snatch + 122kg clean and jerk) and Mauritius’ Ketty Lent took home bronze with a total lift of 208 kg (92kg snatch + 116kg clean and jerk).

In the final session, Ajay earned his third gold at the championships after his triumphs in 2019, 2021 in the same weight category. His combined lift of 306kg (136kg snatch + 170kg clean and jerk) was 16 kgs higher than that of Sri Lanka’s Geethai Vidanage, who secured silver with a total lift of 290kg (128kg snatch + 162kg clean and jerk). Singapore’s Yuan Yee Loh had a total lift of 289kg (132kg snatch + 157kg clean and jerk) to clinch the bronze medal.

India’s medal tally at the event rose to 11 in the senior’s category. The haul so far comprises 7 golds and 4 silvers.

India’s Amarjit Guru (men’s 89kg), Harshad Wadekar (men’s 96kg), Harcharan Singh (men’s 102kg) and Vanshita Verma (women’s 81kg) will be in action on Saturday, the penultimate day of the event.