Gururaja Poojary had won India’s first medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Gold Coast and he has now won the second medal for the country in the ongoing edition at Birmingham. Gururaja has won the bronze medal in the 2022 CWG at Birmingham on Saturday (July 30).

Gururaja completed a total lift of 269 KG. The 29-year-old started his pursuit of a second successive CWG medal with a 118KG lift in snatch but it was in the clean and jerk category that he took the entire country by storm by lifting an incredible 151 KG. This was also a career best lift for the double CWG medalist.

The Gold Medal was won by Malaysia’s Aznil Bidin. The 28-year-old dominated the event by registering a total lift of 285 KG after lifting 127 KG in the Snatch and and 158 KG in Clean and Jerk. Meanwhile, it was Papua New Guinea’s Morea Baru who beat Gururaja to the Silver Medal with a total lift of 273 KG. He lifted 121 KG in the Snatch while backing it up an impressive lift of 152 KG in the Clean and Jerk.

Gururaja had won the Silver Medal in the 2018 CWG at Gold Coast. While he missed out on a Gold Medal, his feat of winning back-to-back medals in the event makes him one of India’s finest in the sport.

This was India’s second medal at CWG 2022 so far and also the second in Weightlifting. Earlier in the day, Sanket Sargar won the Silver Medal in the Men’s 55 KG category. Despite suffering from an injury, Sarkar looked set to win a gold before Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan’s incredible final lift earned him the top prize by a difference of just one KG.

Tokyo Olympics medalist Mirabai Chanu will be in action later in the day and is a hot favourite to bring India’s first gold medal.