Punam adds to India’s golden tally

GOLD COAST: The move to a higher weight category has done a world of good for Punam Yadav, the proof of which was evident at the Carrara Sports Arena 1 here on Sunday as the girl from Varanasi kept her cool and rocked well to claim the women’s 69kg weightlifting gold at the Commonwealth Games.

Going back to Glasgow four years ago, Punam was in the 63kg category and had won the bronze there before switching over to her new class, marking a successful changeover by finishing ninth in last year’s World Championships and second in the Commonwealth Championships.

The confidence that this 22-year-old has gained was typically evident as she attacked the bar with felicity and panache. She was challenged by Fijian Apolonia Vaival through the first stage of the competition as both completed the snatch with an identical total of 100kg.

But in clean and jerk, the Indian was fully in control, going in for an opening attempt of 118kg and then moving the bar up to 122kg. Punam was successful in the third, which gave her a winning total of 222kg.

Vaival, after failing in her opening weight of 115kg, did pull back even as England’s Sarah Davies utilised this opportunity well to sneak through and bag the silver with 217kg. The Fiji lifter was third, just 1kg behind.

India also gained a bronze through Vikas Thakur in the men’s 94kg category even as the event ended in quite a dramatic fashion.

The Ludhiana lifter was placed second with 159kg in snatch but his failures in the second and third attempts of clean and jerk left him with a card of only 192kg and a total of 351kg.

Canada’s Boady Santavy seemed to have the title sewed up in his favour with a Games record 169kg in snatch and 201kg in jerk.

But the wily Papua New Guinean, Steven Kari, the defending champion, was not finished. He was way behind with only a 154kg in snatch but came good in the second part with an unbelievable lift of 216kg to pip out the Canadian by a mere 1kg.

The Indian representative in the women’s 75kg class, Seema, failed in rounding off the day with another medal, finishing sixth with a total of 189kg (84kg in snatch and 105kg in clean and jerk).

The results:

Men, 94kg: 1. Steven Kari (PNG), 370kg; 2. Boady Santavy (Can), 369kg; 3. Vikas Thakur (Ind), 351kg (159+192).

Women, 69kg: 1. Punam Yadav (Ind), 222kg (100+122); 2. Sarah Davies (Eng), 217kg; 3. Apolonia Vaival (Fij), 316kg.

75Kg: 6. Seema (Ind), 189kg (84+105).