CWG weightlifting: Sathish Kumar is the main hope

India’s main medal hope in the Games is S. Sathish Kumar, who had claimed the gold in the 77 kg category in Glasgow 2014.

Looking to perform an encore: S. Satish Kumar, who won a gold medal in the men’s 77 kg category at Glasgow 2014, is confident of maintaining his supremacy in Gold Coast.

In the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, there are eight events each for men and women in weightlifting. And for the first time, weightlifters had to qualify for the Games. For India, 16 weightlifters (eight men and eight women) made the grade.

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India’s main medal hope in the Games is S. Sathish Kumar, who had claimed the gold in the 77 kg category in Glasgow 2014. Medal winners of the previous edition, Sanjitha Chanu (gold), Vikas Thakur (silver), Mirabai Chanu (silver) and Punam Yadav (bronze) will be keen to perform well this time too.

Looking ahead to the Games, S. Sathish Kumar said: “I am confident of retaining the gold medal in my weight category. Of course, there will be tough competition from Malaysian and Australian weightlifters. The Indian team, overall, is well prepared. We had our training in Melbourne to get acclimatised to the food and weather conditions there. This time, there are more expectations, and I realise my responsibilities as this is my second Commonwealth Games. I have been having a few niggles, but I am fit and raring to go.”

• Only gold:
• 1978 Edmonton: 1 (E. Karunakaran).
• 1990 Auckland: 12 (C. Raghavan 3, P. Rangaswamy 3, Parvesh Chander Sharma 2, Paramjit Sharma 3, M. Karnadhar 1).
• 1994 Victoria: 3 (V. Murugesan, B. Adisekhar 2).
• 2002 Manchester: 11 (Kunjarani Devi, Sanamacha Chanu and Shailaja Oujari bagged three each, and Pratima Kumari two).
• Note: 2002 was the last edition where gold medals were awarded in each category of snatch, clean & jerk and combined total.

• All medals:

• 2006 Melbourne: 3 gold (Kunjarani Devi, Yumnam Chanu, Geeta Rani), 5 silver (Vicky Batta, Arun Murugesan, Md. Abdullah, Monika Devi, Simple Bhumrah) and 1 bronze (C. Sudhir Kumar).

• 2010 Delhi: 2 gold (K. Ravi Kumar, Renu Bala), 2 silver (Sukhen Dey, Ngangan Soniya Chanu) and 4 bronze (Vallur Srinivasa Rao, Sudhir Kumar, Sandhya Rani, Laishram Monika Devi).

• 2014 Glasgow: 3 gold (Sukhen Dey, S. Sathish Kumar, Sanjitha Khumukcha), 5 silver (K. Ram Kumar, Vikas Thakur, Mirabai Chanu, Santoshi Matsa; powerlifting: Rainder Rahelu) and 6 bronze (Ganesh Mali, Omkar Otari, Chandrakant Mali, Swati Singh, Punam Yadav; powerlifting: Sakina Khatun).