It was an anti-climax for Services’ Charu Pesi.
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He completed his last clean-and-jerk attempt of 154kg and jumped in joy believing he had won the gold. But, a few seconds later, there was gloom as the jury decided that the lift was faulty. The gold thus went to Subham T. Todkar of Railways, who had cleared 152kg for a total of 271 in the men’s 61kg category of the National weightlifting championships here on Saturday.
Charu had to settle for silver with a total of 267.
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Subham, the 25-year-old from Pune, couldn’t believe his luck. This was his maiden National gold after two silvers in Visakhapatnam (2019) & Patiala (2021). “It’s a great experience. I was lucky!” he told The Hindu.
It was a close fight between Subham and Charu throughout. In snatch, Subham lifted 119kg, 1kg more than Charu. In clean & jerk, the difference was 3kg; 152 to Charu’s 149.
Charu was obviously upset with the verdict. “I don’t know what was wrong with my lift,” he said.
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Shankar Lapung of Arunachal Pradesh won the junior men’s gold while Golom Tinku (Arunachal) finished first in youth men’s.
The results:
Men: Senior: 61kg: 1. Subham T. Todkar (RSPB) 119, 152, 271; 2. Charu Pesi (SSCB) 118, 149, 267; 3. Sidhanta Gogoi (Asm) 116, 149, 265.
Junior: 61kg: 1. Shankar Lapung (Arn) 112, 143, 255; 2. P. Senbagaraj (TN) 103, 139, 242; 3. Golom Tinku (Arn) 106, 135, 241.
Youth: 61kg: 1. Golom Tinku (Arn) 106, 135, 241; 2. Sadananda Bariha (Odi) 103, 125, 228; 3. Sumit Kumar Rajput (MP) 98, 124, 222.