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Commonwealth Games 2022: Sanket Sargar gets India’s first medal in Birmingham

Even after the elbow injury, Sanket returned for his third attempt, but could not perform a lift.

Mohak Gandhi

New Delhi: Sanket Sargar wins the first medal for India in the Commonwealth Games. Sargar won the silver medal in Men’s 55 kg weightlifting. He topped the Snatch round with an impressive 113 kg lift. In the Clean and Jerk round, he lifted a massive 135 kg, which made his total 248 kg.

The gold medal was won by Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan Mohamad Aniq as he lifted 111 kg in the snatch while 138 kg in the clean and jerk round. Sanket missed the gold by just a 1 kg margin, which he might have overcome if he would not have got injured during his second attempt in the clean and jerk.

Picture courtesy: SAI Media/Twitter

Even after the elbow injury, Sanket returned for his third attempt, but could not perform a lift. He had to settle for silver, and he became the first Indian athlete to win a medal in the Commonwealth Games 2022.

In the first snatch attempt, Sanket lifted 107 kg, he improved in the second attempt by lifting 111 kg. In his third attempt, he went for 113 kg and completed the lift with confidence. In the clean and jerk round, he lifted 135 kg in his first attempt, which proved to be his only legal attempt in the round. He was clearly the favourite to win the gold as he lifted a total of 256 kg (143 kg in Clean & Jerk) in Singapore this year.

He was looking great while warming up, but an injury in the match cost him the gold, but nonetheless, a podium finish is a great result. The bronze medal was won by Sri Lanka’s Dilanka Isuru Kumara as he lifted 105 kg in snatch and 120 kg in clean and jerk.

Other weightlifters competing for the medal include Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu, 2018 CWG silver medallist Guru Raja and Bindyarani Devi.