CWG 2022: Bindyarani Devi clinches silver in women’s 55kg weightlifting

Birmingham, July 31: Medal no. 4 for India as weightlifter Bindyarani Devi clinched silver in the women’s 55kg category at the ongoing Birmingham Games on Saturday.

With a personal best of 116kgs in her final attempt in clean & jerk, Bindyarani finished with a total of 202kg to finish second behind Nigeria’s Adijat Adenike Olarinoye, who won Gold with a total of 203kgs. England’s Fraer Morrow clinched bronze with a total lift of 198kgs.

Devi started with a clean 81kg lift in her first snatch attempt, followed by a CWG record in her second attempt, where she lifted 84kgs. On her final attempt in snatch Bindyarani lifted a personal best of 86kgs, which saw her finish third after the snatch round.

In the clean & jerk round, Bindyarani secured India’s fourth medal with a clean lift of 110kgs. Though she failed to lift 114kgs in her second attempt, Bindyarani lifted 116 on her final attempt to bad silver.

Earlier in the day, India won medals in all colours from the same sporting discipline. Sanket Sargar clinched a silver in the 55kgs weightlifting to open India’s medal tally in Birmingham.

Sanket started the 55 kg snatch with a highest lift of 113 kg that gave him a big advantage going into to the clean and jerk event. But an elbow injury saw his chances of clinching gold slip away. For Sargar it was a case of so close yet so far.

Following Sargar’s silver, Gururaja Poojary bagged India’s second medal. Poojary clinched bronze in the 61kg weightlifting competition on Saturday. He lifted a combined (snatch / clean & jerk) with a total lift of 266 kg. Aznil Muhammad successfully defended his Commonwealth Games gold with a lift of 280 kg.

Then came India’s first Gold medal. A world-class performance by Mirabai Chanu saw India win their first Gold medal in Birmingham. Competing in the 49kg category of weightlifting, Chanu put up a record-breaking show to clinch her third commonwealth games medal.

Chanu’s gold was India’s third medal from weightlifting. At the end of the day, India finished with four medals – including one gold, two silvers and a bronze.