Jeremy Lalrinnunga wins gold, India’s fifth medal at Commonwealth Games 2022

19-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga won the men’s 67kg weightlifting event to give India its second gold medal at the Birmingham Games.

Jeremy Lalrinnunga won the gold medal in men’s 67kg weightlifting event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. | Photo Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand

Jeremy Lalrinnunga continued India’s medal run in weightlifting with a gold in the men’s 67kg event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games on Sunday.

Jeremy lifted a total weight of 300 kg, with a snatch lift of 140 kg and a clean & jerk weight of 160 kg.

His dominance over the field was evident from his first snatch attempt where he completed a lift of 136 kg, 6 kg higher than the second-best attempt.

The Indian then improved on his first attempt with a 140 kg lift and set the Games record in process. In his third attempt, Jeremy aimed to better his personal best (141 kg) with a lift of 143 kg but couldn’t pull off the weight.

As the snatch round ended, Jeremy held a lead of 10 kg over the second-placed Umoafia from Nigeria, and a 13 kg lead over the third placed weightlifter.

In the clean & jerk round, the 19-year-old started with a successful first attempt of 154 kg. Jeremy appeared to have suffered a back strain as he hobbled off after his first attempt.

Jeremy braved the pain and improved in his second attempt with 160 kg. He set a target of 165 kg in his third lift but failed to complete the task. Despite this, the Indian secured the gold with a total weight of 300 kg.

Samoa’s Ioane and Nigeria’s Umoafia and settled for the second and third places, respectively.

Jeremy won India its fifth medal, and the second gold medal, at the Commonwealth Games 2022. On Saturday, Mirabai Chanu, Sanket Sargar, Gururaja Poojary and Bindyarani Devi had claimed medals for India.