Gold medalist Indian Weightlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam during the medal ceremony. (Source: PTI)
Sathish Sivalingam defended his title successfully to claim India’s third gold medal in the 77kg category in the Commonwealth Games 2018 taking place in Gold Coast on Saturday. It was another weightlifter who brought India glory, taking the country’s medal-tally to five. But the 25-year-old later revealed that he was in so much pain because of a thigh injury that he did not even expect winning a medal.
After his medal ceremony, Sathish confessed that he was not expecting a medal as he was not fully fit. “I had no hopes of winning a medal after I injured my thighs during the National Championships while attempting 194kg in clean and jerk. It’s a quadriceps problem, even now I am competing at less than ideal fitness but I am glad that was enough to get me a gold,” he said.
“I was in so much pain that even sitting was very painful for me. Everyone took care of me, gave me hope but I was not very confident. I had not trained that hard and my body was not at its best, and so how could I hope for a medal,” added the Tamil Nadu lifter. “I got lucky there, had he (Oliver) not dropped those weights, I would have had to go higher and I am not sure how my body would have taken that. I am quite relieved actually,” said Sathish, who won gold medal in 2014 CWG, setting Games record of 149kg.
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Speaking on the limited access to the team physio, Sathish said, “I didn’t want to touch that level because I still need to undergo rehabilitation. The fact that the access to our physio was limited made it all the more difficult. I just hope that we get a physio with us at the Asian Games.”
Eyes set on Asian Games, Sathish said, “I hope to do even better in the Asian Games because there is a gap now. Earlier Asian Games used to come within 20-25 days of CWG, which didn’t give us enough time to prepare. But this time I have got time to prepare and be fully fit now,” he said.