Indian lifters begin campaign at World, Commonwealth Championships on Tuesday

CHENNAI: The IWF World Championships and Commonwealth Senior Championships will begin in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Tuesday with 20 Indian weightlifters, 10 each in men and women categories, taking part in it. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu had decided to skip the event with Jhilli Dalabehera replacing her in the 49 kg.

The first batch from the country comprising four lifters (women in 49kg and 55kg, men in 55kg and 61kg) along with two coaches had reached the venue while the second batch comprising chief coach Vijay Sharma is scheduled to fly out on Tuesday morning.

The Commonwealth Championships will be held in conjunction with the World Championships and it will be open only to Commonwealth nations. Competitions will be held in 10 weight categories in men and women sections. Results from an event will be drawn for the World Championships and Commonwealth Championships separately.

Jhilli is hoping to do well in the competition. "I am feeling good. I hope I will be able to give my best performance in the competition," Jhilli told this daily from Tashkent. She will be in action on Wednesday. Sanket Sargar (55kg) will compete in his weight division on the inaugural day on Tuesday. The other lifters, who had already reached the venue are Guru Raja (61kg) from men's category and S Bindyarani Devi (55kg) from women's category.

"We are leaving tomorrow (Tuesday). Preparations have been good as we have been training hard at NIS Patiala for months now. I hope the efforts help us win medals in the competition," said Jeremy Lalrinnunga, the 2018 Youth Olympics gold medallist who will compete in 67kg.

Given the situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic, each person who is arriving to Tashkent international airport, has to produce a PCR negative test result that does not exceed 72 hours from the time the test was taken. The members of participating countries will have to undergo a rapid antigen test on reaching the hotel. In addition, a rapid antigen test will be carried out on all participants every fifth day of their stay.

Indian team
 

Men: Sanket Sargar 55kg, Guru Raja 61kg, Jeremy Larinnunga 67kg, Achinta Sheuli 73kg, Ajay Singh 81kg, Amarjit Guru 81kg, Vikas Thakur 96kg, Jagdish Vishwakarma 96kg, Lovepreet Singh 109kg, Gurdeep Singh +109kg

Women: Jhilli Dalabehera 49kg, S Bindyarani Devi 55kg, Popy Hazarika 59kg, Komal Khan 64kg, Harjinder Kaur 71kg, Lalchhanhimi 71kg, Punam Yadav 76kg, R Arockiya Alish 76kg, Anuradha Pavunraj 87kg, Purnima Pandey +87kg