Weightlifter Sanket Sargar won the first medal for the country and clinched a silver medal in the men’s 55 kg category on Saturday (July 30). The young weightlifter was gunning for gold and looked set to finish at the numero uno position until the last attempt of the day.
Social media was flooded with wishes for Sargar, who won the first medal for India. Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag was among the first personalities to wish the weightlifter and he wrote: “Well done #SanketSargar for winning India it’s first medal at the Commonwealth Games, brilliant effort. Proud of your Silver #CWG.”
“Congratulations Sanket Sargar for winning the Silver medal in Weightlifting (Men’s 55kg) and opening India’s account at the Commonwealth Games 2022. Wishing you a swift and complete recovery from injury,” wrote India legend Abhinav Bindra. Check out some other reactions to Sargar’s medal win –
Sargar lifted 107 kg in his first snatch attempt and followed up with an attempt of 111 kg. He came up with his best attempt in the third lift by lifting 113 kg. He finished the snatch event on the top spot.
In the clean and jerk event, Sargar kicked off the proceedings with a lift of 135 kg. He increased the weight to 139 kg but couldn’t complete the lift. Despite being in discomfort, he once again tried to lift the same weight but he seemingly injured himself as his shoulder was heavily taped during the medal ceremony.
Malaysia’s Bin Masdan Mohamad Aniq clinched the gold medal by lifting a total weight of 249 kg. He was at the second spot until his last attempt. In the final lift, Aniq successfully lifted 142 kg to go past Sargar and win the gold with a lead of just 1 kg. He tried to lift 142 kg in the 2nd attempt of clean and jerk but couldn’t complete it.
Sri Lanka’s Dilanka Isuru Kumara Yodage won the bronze medal by lifting 225 kg. He came up with the best lift of 105 kg in the snatch event and then followed up with 120 kg lift in the clean and jerk.
Local boy Ben Hickling received huge cheers during his attempts but he finished fourth by lifting 212 kg.
