CWG 2018 | India clinch first medal on Day 1 as P Gururaja wins silver
India weightlifter Gururaja clinched his and India’s first medal at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games as he finished runners-up in the men's 56 kg category. The 26-year-old has been an late bloomer in weightlifting and had decided to take up the sport after watching Sushil Kumar at Beijing 2008.
Gururaja lifted a total of 249 kgs, which comprised of 111 kg in snatch and 138 kg in clean and jerk. However, success isn’t new to him as he has previously won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Championships, where he had lifted a total of 249kgs (108
While the first spot was taken by Malaysia’s Izhar Ahmed, who lifted a Games record 261 kgs, Sri Lanka’s Chaturanga Lakmal finished in the third place with 248 kgs.
In the last Commonwealth Championships, too, which was held in September last year, Gururaja had won the bronze medal. The emerging name had a very late start to his career. The aspiring wrestler had to take to weightlifting after he failed to find a good academy in Ujire, near Mysore, when he was still in college. This prompted him to change his career to weightlifting
However, even that was on the verge of being taken away from him when his family tempo crashed a few years back. However, his gym-mates raised money to help him continue his training. A job in the air force then helped him finally focus on what he did best and the CWG medal reflects that aptly.
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