Commonwealth Games 2022 weightlifting: India’s Gururaja Poojary wins bronze medal in 61kg
Gururaja settled for the bronze medal in the men’s 61kg category with a total lift of 269kg. This was India’s second weightlifting medal at Birmingham 2022.
Indian weightlifter Gururaja Poojary extended India’s medals tally at the Commonwealth Games 2022 to two with a bronze in the men’s 61kg category at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull on Saturday.
Hours after fellow Indian lifter Sanket Sargar opened India’s medals account by clinching a silver medal in the 55kg, Gururaja lifted a total of 269 kgs (snatch – 118kg; clean and jerk – 151kg) to claim a podium finish at Birmingham 2022.
This was also Gururaja Poojary’s second straight CWG medal.
Guriraja won the men’s 56kg silver medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia but had moved up a weight division to compete in the 61kg category at Birmingham 2022.
"Am very happy. I think my best performance came out today. I moved up categories so it was challenging. I needed to lift 151kg with my last attempt to win the medal and had to give it my all. Am happy I succeeded. I got married last year but have been training for Commonwealth Games since then and had to be away from my wife a lot. I want to dedicate this medal to my wife Soujanya," - Gururaja
In the snatch section, Gururaja Poojary successfully lifted 113kg and 118kg in his first two attempts but failed to hoist 120kg with his third.
Placed fourth after the snatch round, the 29-year-old Gururaja needed a stellar showing in clean and jerk to climb into the medal positions. He did just that with a personal best clean and jerk lift of 151kg with his final attempt.
Gururaja had logged 144kg and 148kg, respectively, with his first two efforts before the massive third try to usurp Canada’s Youri Simard, who finished fourth with just a kilogram less than the Indian.
Malaysia’s Muhamad Aznil Bin Bidin, who had won the 62kg gold at Gold Coast 2018, won the gold medal with a total lift of 285kg (127kg+158kg), a new Games record. Papua New Guinea’s Morea Baru, who had finished behind Bidin at Gold Coast, had to settle for silver yet again with 273kg (121kg+152kg).