Picture Courtesy : The Hindu
Venkat Rahul Ragala became the fourth Indian weightlifter to claim a gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, Australia, coming out trumps in a tense contest .
The 21-year-old Rahul, who is a Commonwealth Championships gold-medallist, lifted a total of 338kg (151kg+187kg) to finish on top.
The Indian was locked in a close battle with Samoa’s Don Opeloge, who ended with a total of 331kg (151kg+180kg).
Both the lifters opted for 191kg as their final clean and jerk lift and both of them failed but Rahul clinched the top prize owing to Opeloge’s failed second attempt at a 188kg lift.
Had Opologe managed a good final lift, Rahul would have ended with a silver as he had already fouled his third attempt.
In the Commonwealth Championships last year, Rahul had lifted a total of 351kg (156kg+195kg).
India’s super showing at weightlifting continued as Punam Yadav added a fifth to the tally with a top finish in the 69kg category of the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast .
Yadav, a bronze-medallist from the 2014 Glasgow edition, lifted 222kg (110kg+122kg) to claim gold ahead of England’s Sarah Davies, who finshed with 217kg (95kg+122kg).
The Englishwoman went for a 128kg lift in her final clean and jerk attempt in pursuit of gold but could not complete it and dropped the bar.
Yadav had claimed a silver at last year’s Commonwealth Championships last year, her first event after making the jump from 63kg to 69kg category.
The bronze medal was won by Fiji’s Apolonia Vaivai with an effort of 216kg (100kg+116kg).
Earlier Mirabai Chanu (48kg), Sanjita Chanu (53kg), Sathish Sivalingam (77kg) and Venkat Rahul Ragala (85kg) had claimed gold medals in the ongoing edition.
