Indian weightlifters are quite literally carrying the weight of expectations in Glasgow. After Mirabai Chanu’s gold and Rishikanta Singh’s silver, Muthupandi Raja, Gyaneshwari Yadav and Bindyarani Devi added two silvers and a bronze to take India’s weightlifting haul to five medals. Gyaneshwari, 23, lifted a total of 199kg after an absorbing duel with Nigeria’s Onome Omolola Didih, who won gold with a Games-record total of 206kg. Canada’s Rebeka Groulx took bronze with 178kg. A confident Gyaneshwari progressed steadily through both disciplines. She opened with 82kg in the snatch before successfully lifting 85kg and 88kg in her next two attempts. She also increased the weight with each attempt in the clean and jerk, successfully lifting 103kg, 107kg and 111kg. However, Didih, who had lifted 93kg in the snatch, maintained her lead with clean and jerk lifts of 105kg, 110kg and 113kg. Later on Monday, Bindyarani lifted a total of 199kg to win bronze in the women’s 58kg category. The 27-year-old from Manipur registered 87kg in the snatch and 112kg in the clean and jerk. Bindyarani completed all three snatch attempts, lifting 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. In the clean and jerk, she failed at 110kg in her opening attempt but boldly raised the weight to 112kg and completed the lift. She then failed at 116kg in her final attempt. Even a successful 116kg lift would not have changed the colour of her medal, as it would have taken her total only to 203kg. Canada’s Ann-Sophie Taschereau won silver with 215kg, while Nigeria’s Rafiatu Folashade Lawal claimed gold with a Games-record total of 229kg. Earlier, Raja, 26, secured silver in the men’s 65kg event with a total of 286kg late on Sunday night. He lifted 126kg in the snatch and 160kg in the clean and jerk to finish behind Malaysia’s Muhamad Aznil bin Bidin, who won gold with a Games-record total of 299kg. Papua New Guinea’s Morea Baru took bronze with 282kg. It was also an encouraging day in athletics for India, with Tejas Shirse qualifying for the men’s 110m hurdles final. The national record-holder became the first Indian in 60 years to reach the Commonwealth Games final in the men’s sprint hurdles. Gurbachan Singh Randhawa was the last to do so, finishing seventh in the equivalent 120-yard hurdles at the 1966 Games in Kingston, Jamaica. The Maharashtra athlete clocked 13.76 seconds to finish sixth overall and third in Heat 1. In the long jump, M Sreeshankar and Lokesh Sathyanathan qualified for the men’s final. Sreeshankar jumped 8.01m on his opening attempt to clear the automatic qualifying standard of 8.00m. Lokesh finished fourth in Group B with an opening jump of 7.77m and advanced as one of the 12 best performers. Indian boxer Sachin Siwach stormed into the quarterfinals of the men’s 60kg event after defeating England’s William Hewitt by a 4-1 points decision in the round of 16 on Monday. In the men’s 80kg category, Ankush Panghal dominated Antigua and Barbuda’s Zalaan Jan to register a unanimous 5-0 victory and reach the quarterfinals.
