<
>

CWG 2022: Harjinder Kaur wins bronze in 71 kg weightlifting

Harjinder Kaur poses with her bronze medal (Women's 71kg weightlifting) at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Al Bello/Getty Images

Harjinder Kaur added to India's medal tally on Tuesday morning as she won bronze in the women's 71kg competition at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

This is India's ninth medal of the Games and seventh medal from the weightlifting contingent.

Harjinder failed her opening snatch lift and followed it up with two successive lifts - 90kg and 93kg - to finish fourth at the end of the snatch event.

Harjinder, who is the 2020 Khelo India University Games champion, had initially opted to begin her clean and jerk campaign with 115kg, but then reduced it to 113kg. The move paid off as she cleared the lift and went on to lift 116kgs to take her total to 204kgs and temporarily top the standings.

Canada's Alexis Ashworth, who was in the battle for bronze with Harjinder, kept the pressure on the Indian as she cleared lifts of 112kg, 116kg and 119kgs to leapfrog her in the standings.

It appeared that Harjinder would miss out on the podium as the two leaders, Sarah Davies and Joy Ogbonne Eze were yet to begin their clean and jerk attempts.

But that's when fortune favoured Harjinder as Joy succumbed to pressure and failed to land a single successful lift (125kg) in her three clean and jerk attempts. That put Harjinder back in contention for a medal and the Indian pocketed bronze, her first major medal at the international level.

Interestingly, Joy had lifted 230kg (100+130) to win the gold at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent last year, where Harjinder had finished second with a combined total of 211kg.

India has enjoyed a rich haul of weightlifting medals in this edition of the Commonwealth Games. Mirabai Chanu, Achinta Sheuli and Jeremy Lalrinnunga bagged gold medals, while Sanket Sargar and Bindyarani Devi won silver and P. Gururaja pocketed bronze.