National Weightlifting Championships 2024: Ajith Narayana, Harjinder Kaur and Harmanpreet Kaur break multiple records
The senior national records were broken in the men’s 73kg, women’s 71kg and women’s 76kg divisions.
Weightlifting
Ajith Narayana, Harjinder Kaur and Harmanpreet Kaur broke multiple records to win gold medals at the National Weightlifting Championships 2024 in Nagrota Bagwan, Himachal Pradesh this week.
Competing in the men’s 73kg at the Rainbow Khelo India Residential Academy, the 25-year-old Ajith Narayana set new national records in clean and jerk and total.
Ajith lifted 140kg in snatch and 178kg in clean and jerk for a combined total of 318kg on Wednesday. He won the gold medal by breaking Commonwealth Games 2022 champion Achinta Sheuli’s previous mark of 316kg in total and Ajith’s own clean and jerk record of 174kg.
Lalhunthara secured silver with a total of 298kg (127kg snatch+171kg clean and jerk) while Deepa Lather’s 297kg (136kg snatch+161kg clean and jerk) earned him bronze.
Harjinder Kaur, competing in the women’s 71kg, broke national records in all three disciplines - snatch, clean-and-jerk and total. She lifted 98kg in the snatch, 125kg in the clean and jerk, and recorded a total of 223kg - better than her own previous records of 96kg, 124kg and 220kg, respectively.
S Pallavi claimed silver with 208kg (94kg snatch+114kg clean and jerk), and M Lekha Maalya took bronze with 195kg (83kg snatch+112kg clean and jerk).
On Friday, Harmanpreet Kaur added her name to the record books by setting new marks in the women’s 76kg category for clean and jerk and total. The 23-year-old Indian weightlifter managed 96kg in snatch and 127kg in clean and jerk for a total of 223kg.
Rakhi 215kg (92kg+123kg) and Heena 211kg (88kg+123kg) won silver and bronze, respectively.
Earlier at the national weightlifting meet, Muthupandi Raja (men’s 61kg) made headlines by breaking national records in total and clean and jerk while Rishikanta Singh set a new national record in snatch in the same weight division. Sufna Jasmin also created history, setting national records in snatch and total in the women’s 45kg category.
The IWLF National Youth, Junior, and Senior Weightlifting Championships began on October 7 and will conclude on October 13. The National Championships features around 860 athletes - 480 men and 380 women - competing across all age groups and categories.