Commonwealth Games 2022
19-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga battles pain and injury to win India’s second Gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022
Jeremy Lalrinnunga gave India their second Gold medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games to take India’s medal tally to five. The 19-year-old lifted a total of 300 kgs in the 67kg category to thwart a challenge from all Commonwealth countries to earn the gold medal.
Lalrinnunga lifted 136kgs in his first snatch and improved it further by lifting 140kg in his second attempt. He then completed a sensational lift of 160kg in clean and jerk to take his total to 300kg, a new Commonwealth Games Record.
Our Yuva Shakti is creating history! Congratulations to @raltejeremy, who has won a Gold in his very first CWG and has set a phenomenal CWG record as well. At a young age he’s brought immense pride and glory. Best wishes to him for his future endeavours. pic.twitter.com/dUGyItRLCJ
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 31, 2022
Lalrinnunga has seen an incredible rise to the top. At just 16 years old, Lalrinnunga won gold at the 2018 Youth Olympics with a total lift of 274kgs. In the 2021 Commonwealth Championship, Lalrinnunga came up with an impressive lift of 305kg to win Gold as well. Additionally, Lalrinnunga has a national record of 306kg (140+166).
Jeremy Lalrinnunga struggled throughout the competition with a back issue but came back every time to attempt higher lifts. Lalrinnunga’s rise to the top has been nothing short of inspirational. Introduced to weightlifting at the young age of seven, Lalrinnunga impressed all from a very young age. He later worked as a PWD labourer before opportunities in weightlifting came calling. The 19-year-old has now written his name into the history books with gold in commonwealth games.
Earlier Mirabai Chanu had brought the first Gold for the country in this year’s mega event. Chanu lifted a total of 201kg, a massive 29kg more than the second-placed Roilya Ranaivosoa to come first in the event.
Additionally, weightlifting has brought three more medals to the Indian tally. The sport of weightlifting has been very fruitful to India at global events. So far, weightlifting has brought 131 medals in Commonwealth Games history. The medals tally included 45 Gold medals. India’s best performance at a Commonwealth Game was in 2010 when India finished second. In the last Commonwealth Game in 2018, India finished third and would be looking to improve on their performance from the last time around.
