Ragala Venkata Rahul, the 17-year-old weightlifter from Andhra Pradesh Sports School, ensured that the year 2013 ended on a high for him on the personal front, when he won three gold medals in the 77 kg category in the Youth National Championship in Guwahati.
For someone who was adjudged ‘best weightlifter’ in the recent Commonwealth Championship in Penang, it may not be a big surprise when this Andhra boy has achieved a similar feat in this National also in the youth category. Earlier, B. Vishnuvardhan settled for two silver medals and a bronze in the 94 kg category with a combined effort of 252 kg (111+141).
For the record, visually-challenged Parapati Ramesh had already stunned the critics with a silver medal in the 50-kg category to become the first-ever visually-challenged from the State to win a medal in an open national.
By all means, it has been a creditable performance by the weightlifters from Andhra Pradesh in the Youth category as the girls Deexitha won three silver (53 kg), Sindhu three bronze (58 kg) and M Ooha Sai three bronze (69 kg +). This feat also enabled the State team to finish second overall in the girls section.
