My mother will not have to sell vegetables now, says Bindiyarani after Commonwealth Games silver

Birmingham, August 1: Bindiyarani Devi missed the Commonwealth Games 2022 gold in the 55 kg weightlifting category by a whisker. The Indian lifter had to settle for silver.

But even that silver will now change Bindiyarani’s life forever. Right now, Bindiya and her mother will have their eyes welled up with tears and blurry sight.

It will be more out of relief, rather than a sign of any misery. “My mother had to sell vegetables to raise me, to buy me shoes, and now she will not have to sell vegetables. The medal will take away the past sorrows of my family.

“I had told my mother that I am going to Birmingham (for CWG 2022) and our bad days will end after this if I win a medal. It has happened so. Now, I will not allow my mother to sell vegetables,” Bindya Rani told MyKhel.

“My mother’s health is not very good these days and she did not sleep all night to watch my performance at the Commonwealth Games,” she said. In fact, the medal brought her double happiness as Bindiya had joined Railways in Guwahati Zone ahead of her trip to Birmingham.

“By winning this medal and the new job I am sure my my family will see better days in future,” she added.

Bindiya has also been chuffed by the fact that her idol Mirabai Chanu met her before the competition and encouraged her. “Mirabai came to me and hugged me and said I have to bring the gold to the country just like her.”

However, Bindiya missed out on winning the gold by just one kilo. This was the first time in Bindiya Rani's international career that she had to increase 5 kilos straight from one lift to another.

Bindiya and coach Vijay Sharma had no choice but to do so. After passing the first 111 kg clean and jerk, her second lift of 114 kg was not counted. Now in the third lift, if Bindiya had not tried to lift 116 kg, she could have missed out on the medal, but Bindiya lifted this weight and won the silver.

She fell just one kilo behind Nigeria's Edizat Olarinoye. Edizat lifted 203 kg and Bindiya lifted a total of 202 kg.

(Info with Amit Shah)