PM Modi lauds Harjinder Kaur's bronze-medal winning feat, heaps praise on weightlifters

Following the bronze medal win in the Women’s 71kg final, Indian weightlifter Harjinder Kaur said she was confident that she will secure a medal despite getting strong competition from Nigeria’s lifter Joy Ogbonne Eze for the third position.

Indian weightlifter Harjinder Kaur won a bronze medal with a combined lift of 212kg in the Women’s 71kg final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Monday.

Nigerian lifter Joy Ogbonne Eze was unsuccessful in all of her three attempts in the clean and jerk round, meaning Harjinder Kaur became India’s ninth medallist at the Commonwealth Games 2022. England’s Sarah Davies won a gold medal.

PM Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate her bronze-medal feat, highlighting how India's weightlifting contingent has reaped rich dividends in Birmingham so far. "Our weightlifting contingent has performed exceptionally well at the Birmingham CWG. Continuing this, Harjinder Kaur wins a Bronze medal. Congratulations to her for this special accomplishment. Best wishes to her for her future endeavours," he wrote.

Harjinder was successful in all of her attempts in the Clean and Jerk round. In her third attempt, she lifted 119kg to take her total to 212 kg (93kg + 119kg).In her first attempt at the Snatch category, Harjinder failed to lift 90kg. In the second attempt of the category she finally successfully lifted 90kg. In her third and final attempt, she lifted 93kg battering her personal best.

“I was confident that I will get a medal. Though I am not happy with my performance but I am happy that I won a medal. Next, I will focus on Asian Championship,” Harjinder Kaur told ANI.

In the Clean and Jerk category, she successfully lifted 113kg. In the second attempt of the category, she lifted 116kg without breaking a sweat. She bettered her last attempt and lifted 119kg successfully.

Earlier on Day 3 of the Games, Indian weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga bagged gold with a dominant performance in the 67 Kg men’s weightlifting event. While Achinta Sheuli finished day 3 on a high for India with gold in the 73kg event.