Jeremy Lalrinnunga has begun the process of exorcising some dark memories. He is keen on working his way back to the national squad. The 21-year-old’s return to the national stage after a two-year gap was the highlight of the IWLF National Weightlifting Championships which concluded in Itanagar last week.
He marked his first national championships since August 2021with a victory in the men’s 67kg class with a total of 298kg. That was 2kg shy of his gold-winning effort in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. This victory would have helped him erase memories of no lifts in clean and jerk in the Asian Championships in Jinju, South Korea, and the exit from the national camp.
The most intense competition was in the 81kg class, where Maharashtra’s Abhishek Nipane beat the Commonwealth Games champion Achinta Sheuli (Services) and Haryana’s Deepak Lather. Just 2kg separated the totals achieved by the three. Nipane succeeded in lifting 171kg in clean and jerk for a total of 310kg to push his rivals to his flanks on the podium.
Yet, despite the keen competition, Ajay Singh’s national marks — 149kg (snatch), 190kg (clean & jerk) and 338kg (total) — remained a bridge too far for the lifters in this division. Besides, Nipane’s total was a fair distance from the 348kg that was the bronze medal winning total in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.
Of the three lifters who set national record totals in Itanagar, Muthupandi Raja was the only male. However, a fair idea of where Indian weightlifting finds itself at the moment can be had from the fact that his 279kg total in the men’s 61kg class would have secured him only the ninth place in the Asian Games.
Punjab’s Harjinder Kaur (71kg class) and Mehak Sharma (+87kg) were the two women who lifted national record totals, but it was S Bindiyarani Devi (Railways) who held the greater attention with a total of 190kg in the 55kg class. The Railways star, seen as India’s best bet after Mirabai Chanu, had lifted 194kg and 196kg in continental events earlier in 2023.
The efforts by the Indian Weightlifting Federation to clean up the sport have had an impact on the totals being obtained. But it must also be said that the coaching standards have to move upwards if India is to aim for medals beyond the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Championships. Indeed, there must be a more scientific approach to coaching at all levels.
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The results
Men
55kg: 1. Mukund Aher (Railways) 249 kg Total (112 Snatch, 137 Clean & Jerk); 2. Uday Mahajan (Maharashtra) 241 (105, 136); 3. Akash Goud (Maharashtra) 240 (106, 134).
61kg: 1. Muthupandi Raja (Railways) 279 New National Record (121 NNR, 158 NNR); 2. Guru Raja (Services) 273 (121 ENR, 152); 3. Shankar Lapung (Arunachal Pradesh) 271 (121 NNR, 150).
67kg: 1. Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Mizoram) 298 (136, 162); 2. K Neelam Raju (Railways) 288 (126, 162); 3. Lalnunthara (Services) 284 (121, 163).
73kg: 1. NAjith (Railways) 302 (132, 170); 2. B Devapredhan (Chandigarh) 291 (133, 158); 3. Shivalingeswara Sai (Telangana) 281 (121, 160).
81kg: 1. Abhishek Nipane (Maharashtra) 310 (139, 171); 2. Achinta Sheuli (Services) 309 (141, 168); 3. Deepak Lather (Haryana) 308 (144, 168).
89kg: 1. PS Marush (Services) 319 (132, 177); 2. Gourav (Police) 318 (142, 176); 3. Prince Malik (Uttar Pradesh) 309 (140, 169).
96kg: 1. Jagdish Vishwakarma (Services) 340 (151, 189); 2. Harshad Wadekar (Railways) 334 (146, 188); 3. Suresh Kumar Yadav (Odisha) 311 (133, 178).
102kg: 1. Sambo Lapung (Services) 338 (147, 191); 2. Harshit Sehrawat (Haryana) 328 (148, 180); 3. Ajeet Singh (Railways) 320 (137, 183).
109kg: 1. Lovepreet Singh (Services) 345 (160, 185); 2. Md. Jameer Hussain (Services) 332 (148, 184); 3. Naveen (Haryana) 328 (144, 184).
+109kg: 1. Gurdeep Singh (Railways) 362 (161, 201); 2. S Rudramayan (Railways) 352 (165, 187); 3. Hitesh Kumar (Services) 337 (147, 190).
Women
45kg: 1. Dipali Gursale (Railways) 160kg Total (71 Snatch, 89 Clean & Jerk); 2. Chandrika Tarafdar (West Bengal) 158 (68, 90); 3. Veena (Chhattisgarh) 148 (63, 85).
49kg: 1. Jhili Dalabehera (Railways) 173 (77, 96); 2. Panchami Sonowal (Assam) 171 (75, 96); 3. Gyaneshwari Yadav (Chhattisgarh) 171 (77, 94).
55kg: 1. S Bindiyarani Devi (Railways) 190 (81, 109); 2. Sneha Soren (Odisha) 189 (82, 107); 3. Gauri Pandey (Railways) 184 (79, 105).
59kg: 1. Usha (Haryana) 190 (87, 103); 2. Harjeet Kaur (Police) 189 (83, 106); 3. Davinder Kaur (Police) 188 (83, 105).
64kg: 1. S Nirupama Devi (Railways) 200 (88, 112); 2. Ditimoni Sonowal (Assam) 197 (87, 110); 3. S Pallavi (Andhra Pradesh) 188 (84, 104).
71kg: 1. Harjinder Kaur (Punjab) 220 NNR (96 NR, 124 NR); 2. Sarabjeet Kaur (Punjab) 199 (87, 112); 3. Jasvir Kaur (Police) 196 (85, 111).
76kg: 1. Pooja Yadav (Police) 204 (91, 113); 2. Harmanpreet Kaur (Chandigarh) 203 (89, 114); 3. Pompi Saikia (Chandigarh) 200 (92, 108).
81kg: 1. Vanshita Verma (Railways) 220kg (96, 124 NNR); 2. Rakhi Purohit (Rajasthan) 195 (86, 109); 3. Navdeep Kaur (Chandigarh) 190 (86, 104).
87kg: 1. R Arockiya Alish (Railways) 218 (91, 127 NNR); 2. Komal Wakale (Maharashtra) 212 (93, 119); 3. SR Usha (Karnataka) 209 (91, 118).
+87kg: 1. Mehak Sharma (Punjab) 240 NNR (105 NNR, 135 NNR); 2. Manpreet Kaur (Police) 232 (99, 133); 3. MT Ann Mariya (Railways) 213 (93, 120).
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