CWG 2018: Sathish Kumar Sivalingam lifted 173 kg in Clean and Jerk. (Reuters)
India has moved up two places in the CWG 2018 medals tally to third after weighlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam struck gold in the men’s 77 kg weighlifting on Saturday.
The Vellore native saw off a stiff challenge from England’s Jack Oliver and lifted a total weight of 317kg (144kg +173kg).
Sitting comfortable in third on the medal table, India’s five medals have so far come from the country’s wieghtliting contingent. Lifter P Gururaja opened India’s account at the games with a silver in the men’s 56kg category. However, lifter Mirabai Chanu became India’s first athlete to win gold at the Gold Coast event. India ended day one with two medals.
On day two of the games, India’s Sanjita Chanu won gold in the women’s 53kg category while Deepak Lather settled for bronze in the men’s 69kg category. The highlight of the day, however, was when Lather became the country’s youngest weightlighting medallist.
India is likely to add more medals to its tally as Indian lifters are still in contention in several categories. Apart from weightlifting, events such as wrestling and shooting are yet to begin. India has sent a strong contigent for both sports.
While in team events, India is likely to win a few medals in badminton, table tennis, hockey, lawn bowls and squash.
Badminton, in particular, is one sport in which India is expected to win more than a couple of medals with stars such as P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth taking part.
In the track and field events, India is pinning its hopes on Delhi youngster Neeraj Chopra who will be participating in the javelin throw. He is the U-20 world record holder in javelin throw.