Vikas Thakur of Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) set new National marks in snatch and clean and jerk on his way to winning the gold in the men’s 85kg category of the weightlifting competition on Tuesday.
The Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist’s effort of 153kg in snatch shattered the Games mark of 147 set by Tajinder Singh of Punjab in 2001 in Patiala and also his own National mark of 152 set in Chandigarh last year.
His 186 in clean and jerk and a final tally of 339 was one better than the National Games mark of 177 and 317 set by SSCB’s Paramjit Sharma in 1999.
Jasvir excelsPunjab’s Jasvir Kaur, the Commonwealth junior medallist, set new marks in snatch and clean and jerk while winning the women’s 63kg gold.
It was Rakhi Halder of West Bengal who had set the ball rolling with a record lift of 87kg in snatch. It bettered the 85kg set by L. Monica Devi of Manipur at Vishakapatnam in 2002.
Even as Rakhi was rejoicing, Reena (Haryana) followed it up with an 88. Vandana Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) took up the challenge and improvedit to 90. It was then Jasvir’s turn. And the 21-year-old Physical Education student of Punjab University came up with a 92kg lift.
The record-breaking efforts of these lifters had the crowd on its feet. Vandana was not one to give up. She increased it to 93 in her final attempt before Jasvir sealed it with a 94 in her last attempt. A relaxed Jasvir also shattered the clean and jerk record of 117 set by P. Harita of Andhra Pradesh in 2002 to clinch the gold.
Satish on a songAfter a strong performance at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, S. Satish Kumar of Tamil Nadu stayed out of major competitions due to injury woes. The Games here has served as an ideal platform to find his touch. The 22-year-old made the best use of it to strike the gold in the 77kg class for men with a tally of 307. Though he did not come close to his CWG effort, it was still good enough to finish on top of the table.
At Glasgow, Satish had enjoyed a 149kg snatch while shattering the CWG record, but here could only manage a 136.
“That’s ok for me as I am on the road to recovery. Also, I did not want to take chances as I plan to take part in quite a few big events this year,” said Satish.
Shubham Verma (Haryana) tried his best to match the 171kg that the CWG champion lifted with ease in his last two clean and jerk attempts butin vain.
The results: Men:85kg: 1. Vikas Thakur (SSCB) 339 (153, 186); 2. C.V. Fajaru Nasik C.V. (Ker) 301 (131, 170); 3. Jasvant Singh (UP) 278 (128, 150); 77kg: 1. S. Satish Kumar (TN) 307 (136,171), 2. Shubham Verma (Har) 294 (132, 162), 3. Ajay Deep Sarang (Cht) 285 (130, 155).
Women:63kg: 1. Jasvir Kaur (PUN) 212 (94, 118), 2. Vandana Gupta (UP) 206 (93, 113), 3. Rakhi Halder (WB) 203 (90, 113).
