Gururaja Poojary earned second medal for India at the Common Wealth Games 2022; wins bronze...

Gururaja Poojary earned the bronze medal in the men's 61 kg final on Saturday, giving India a perfect weightlifting record going into the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. To ensure India's second medal of the competition, Poojary successfully performed a combined lift of 269 kg (118 kg in the snatch and 151 kg in the clean and jerk). Poojary added to India's impressive performance in CWG weightlifting competitions. This came shortly after teammate weightlifter Sanket Mahadev Sargar, who won a silver, started India's medal count at the CWG 2022.

Gururaja, who placed second in the Gold Coast Games in 2018, started with an impressive clean lift of 115 kg and quickly reached the top. Poojary added 3 kgs to his lift on his second effort, bringing it to 118 kg, which he also accomplished without difficulty while Youri Simard of Canada and Morea Baru of PNG caught up to him. Aznil Bidin was in first place, followed by Morea Baru and Canada's Youri Simard. Poojary, however, stumbled in his third attempt at a snatch, which was for 120 kg.

Although Poojary failed in his final effort at a snatch, his performance in the clean and jerk more than made up for it. He made the decision to lift 144 kg in his first effort right away, and he did it forcefully while pumping his fists. Simard outperformed Poojary and took the lead by 2 kg. Simard then attempted to lift 149, so Poojary had to raise 151 on his final effort. To be in the running for the bronze, Poojary had to repeat his personal best, which he duly did. Bidin and Baru were in a battle for gold; nevertheless, Poojary had won India's second medal of the day.