Sanket Sargar of Maharashtra made history on Saturday, July 30, when he became the first Indian athlete to take home a medal from the Commonwealth Games 2022. The 21-year-old took home the silver medal in Birmingham’s men’s 55kg weightlifting competition.
The Indian put up a thorough performance, easily taking the lead with a lift of 113 kg in the snatch competition. He then gave a fantastic performance in the clean and jerk, lifting 135 kg on his first try before failing to lift 139 kg on his next two efforts. He lifted 248 kg in all before finishing. Sargar also hurt himself while making one last try.
Aniq Mohamad needed to lift 142 kg in the clean and jerk to break the Commonwealth record, making the final thrilling till the very end.
When Sanket Sargar attempted to lift 139 kg in his second clean and jerk effort, he injured his elbow. He persisted despite his wounds and made one more effort. Sargar, however, was only able to lift 139 pounds and took second place. Dilanka Yodage of Sri Lanka won the bronze medal with a total weight of 225 kg.
Sanket Sagar was at his best when he cleared all three of his weights on his first attempt in the snatch event at the Asian qualifications in Singapore in February 2022, breaking both the national and Commonwealth records (snatch – 113kg; clean and jerk – 143kg; total of 256kg).
Meanwhile, Anurag Thakur union minister of sports took to twitter to congratulate Sanket.
