CWG 2018 | Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham clinches second gold for India
India womenâs dominance in weightlifting continued on the Day 2 at the Gold Coast Games as Sanjita Chanu Khumukcham won a gold in womenâs 53 kg category. This is Indiaâs second gold of the tournament after Mirabai Chanu took top spot on the first day in the 48kg category.
All three medals for India at the Games so far have come through weightlifting only. The floodgates were opened by P Gururaja on Day
No one in the category tried that weight in their first attempt with Papua New Guineaâs Loa Dika Toua and Canadaâs Rachel Leblanc-Bazinet coming close with a 78 kg lift. However, by the time they came to their third attempt, where they had declared 82kg and 83kg respectively, they were spent and failed to lift them.
Sanjita, as effortless as Mirabai Chanu was yesterday, started with 81kg and went on to 83kg and 84kg with no struggle whatsoever. She ended up leading the snatch category with a Commonwealth record of 84kg lift.Â
However, it was in the clean and jerk category that the Indian faced the real competition from Toua, who holds the Games record for clean and jerk (111) and combined (193) as well. And after Sanjita lifted 104 kg and 108 kg in the first two attempts, Toua needed to lift a massive 113 kg to keep her Indian counterpart out of the gold contention.Â
However, she failed to lift it after Sanjita dropped her 112 kg attempt. The Indian eventually ended the clean and jerk category with 108 kg, lifting 192 kg in total as Touaâs combined and clean and jerk record remained intact.