Commonwealth Games: Lifter Achinta Sheuli wins men’s 73kg, bags third gold medal for India

Birmingham, Aug 1 (IANS): With an assured performance, India’s 20-year-old weightlifter Achinta Sheuli won gold in the men’s 73kg division at the Commonwealth Games 2022, lifting a new games record total of 313kg at the NEC Hall number 1 in Birmingham.

He lifted 143kg in snatch and 170kg in clean and jerk to top the field ahead of Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who took silver with a total of 303kg, while Canada’s S. Darsigny claimed bronze with a total of 298kg.

Sheuli’s gold is India’s third in the 2022 Commonwealth Games here and the sixth medal in total, all coming in weightlifting.

Sheuli, the 20-year-old former tailor from Howrah district of West Bengal, was the favourite in 73kg and took lead from the snatch category itself, lifting 143kg.

In clean and jerk, he started with 165kg in his first attempt, which put him 1kg ahead of the Malaysian.

The Indian youngster failed to lift 170kg in his second attempt before completing it in his third attempt to take his total to 313kg, which is a Commonwealth Games record.

Malaysia’s Muhammad made a desperate but futile effort to lift 175kg to overtake the Indian but was not successful in two attempts, giving Sheuli the gold medal.