Reuters.
Birmingham: Putting a second medal to the Indian tally, weightlifter Gururaja Poojary won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in the men's 61kg event in Birmingham on Saturday, IANS reported.
Poojary made a combined lift of 269kg, with 118kg in snatch and 151kg in clean and jerk, to finish third in the event. The medal is his second straight CWG medal after he won the men's 56kg silver medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games staged in Australia.
The gold was won by Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamad of Malaysia with a combined 285kg in both rounds, creating a CWG record in the category. Papua New Guinea's Morea Baru finished second and bagged the silver, lifting a combined 273kg.
Earlier in the day, another weightlifter Sanket Mahadev Sargar opened India's medal account at the CWG 2022 by clinching a silver in the men's 55kg category.
Twenty-one-year-old Sanket was in pursuit of gold but sustained two failed clean and jerk attempts to finish second. He lifted a total of 248kg (113kg+135kg).
Meanwhile, Mohamad Aniq lifted 249 kg (107kg+142kg), broke the Games record and won gold in the item. Sri Lanka's Dilanka Isuru Kumara 225kg (105kg+120kg) came third to win bronze.
Sargar was leading in the snatch section with six kilograms to head into clean and jerk.
However, he sustained injury and was in agony during a failed attempt to lift 139 kg during his second and third attempts.
In the last Commonwealth Games, the Indian team brought home nine medals, including five golds. A similar performance is expected from them this year too.