Birmingham: India has got its second medal in Commonwealth Games 2022 as Gururaja Poojary wins bronze medal on Day 2.
The Indian weightlifter won the bronze medal in the 61 kg men’s category and he was involved in a close battle with Canada’s Youri Simard. Gururaja had failed in his final attempt of snatch for 120 kg before lifting 115 kg and 118 kg in his first and second attempt.
Malaysia’s Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamed won in the 61 Kg weight category with a Commonwealth Games record lift of 127 Kg in snatch. finished with a lift of 285 kg overall. while Morea Baru comes second with a 273 kg lift
Poojary began weightlifting in 2010. He started out as a wrestler before switching to powerlifting and then weightlifting. In 2017, Gururaja claimed a Commonwealth Championship bronze in Australia.
The 29-year-old won gold in the Commonwealth senior weightlifting championship, lifting a personal best of 249 kg (108+141) in Penang in 2016. Earlier that year, he had won gold at the South Asian Games.
Before his lift today the lifter said, “I wanted to be a wrestler after watching Sushil Kumar’s bronze in the 2008 Olympics.”
“My coach reminded me how much this medal means to me and I have to lift it,” he added.
