Maharashtra’s Sanket Sargar on Saturday, 30 July created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 21-year-old won a silver medal in the men’s 55kg weightlifting event in Birmingham.
Sanket Sargar won the silver medal in the men’s 55kg event with a total of 248kg (113kg in snatch, 135kg in clean and jerk), trailing Malaysia’s Aneeq Mohamed, who had a total of 249kg (107kg in snatch, 142 kg) won the gold medal. clean and jerk).
It was a thrilling end to the final as Aneeq Mohammed needed a Commonwealth record of 142kg in clean and jerk to win the gold.
Sanket Sargar suffered an elbow injury when he tried to lift 139kg in his second clean and jerk attempt. He pushed for the last attempt, which resulted in the injury he suffered. However, Sargar could not lift the load of 139 and ended up with a silver medal. Dilanka Yodge of Sri Lanka won the bronze medal with a total of 225kg.
Screengrab from the CWG 2022 website
National champion Sanket Sargar, who was one of the medal winning favorites at the Khelo India Youth Games and the Khelo India University Games in 2020, was one of the medal-winning favorites to India in weightlifting, which has been one of the major suppliers of medals to the Commonwealth Games over the years.
The Indian lifter lived up to the expectations by coming into the men’s 55kg final with some calm and orderly lifts in the snatch and clean and jerk categories.
Sargar topped the snatch round
Sanket Sagar, who set a new Commonwealth and National record at the Asian Qualifiers in Singapore in February 2022 (Snatch – 113 kg; Clean and Jerk 143 kg – 256 kg in total), to clear all his 3 weights in his first attempt. was in best performance. In snatching
Sargar started with a weight of 107kg, but arch-rival, Malaysia’s Anik Mohamed matched the Indian’s feat with 107kg in his first attempt.
However, Sargar extended his lead with a successful lift of 111kg in his second attempt in the snatch. Sri Lanka’s Dilanka Yogade started with 105kg but fell behind as the Indo-Malaysian rivalry sent the Birmingham crowd into frenzy.
Aneeq Mohammed failed to lift 111 kg despite making two attempts. Sargar, on the other hand, lifted 113 kg in his last attempt in the snatch to gain a lead of 6 kg.
Who is Sanket Sargar?
Sanket Sargar, who started wrestling at the age of 13, has been on the podium at major international events including the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships 2021 in Tashkent, helping his father, who owns a paan shop and a food stall. Sangli, Maharashtra.
Sargar, who is one of the favorite students of acclaimed weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma, arrived in Birmingham a month ago as the Indian government arranged a preparatory camp for the lifters in the host city to get used to the conditions.
Sargar, now a Commonwealth Games champion, has set his sights on making sure that his father doesn’t work as hard as he does to keep his family afloat. The young man, who has made his mark on the international stage, will be eager to make it to the Paris Olympics and build on his new reputation as one of the best weightlifters in the country.
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