Jeremy Lalrinnunga wins second Gold Medal for India at the CWG 2022 setting a CWG record in 67 kg category

India’s flurry of medals in Weightlifting continued on Day three of the Commonwealth Games as Jeremy Lalrinnunga won the second gold medal for the country on Sunday. The 19-year-old also set a CWG record in the men’s 67kg weightlifting category final. Jeremy lifted 136 kg in his first snatch attempt and bettered it in his second attempt by lifting 140kg. He then went ahead with an incredible lift of 160 kg in the Clean and Jerk category to finish with 300kg -which is a CWG record- and brought the fifth medal home for India.

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Jeremy’s third attempt was unsuccessful but it didn’t matter much as he was already way ahead on top when he entered the clean and jerk round. In the second part of the event, Jeremy lifted a monumental 154 kg in his first attempt but left the entire India with their hearts in their mouth as he injured himself. After pulling off the first lift successfully, Jeremy looked a bit unsettled as he limped back inside. He made a valiant effort and came back despite being injured to lift 160kg successfully which fetched him the medal.

He further tried a 165 kg lift in his third attempt but failed due to his injury. Samoa's Vaipova, who had come back to a silver medal contention, needed a humongous lift of 174kg to clinch the gold medal but he failed, which meant that the Indian National Anthem would be played for the second time at CWG 2022.

Jeremy burst onto the scene when he became the first of three Indian athletes to win gold medals at the 2018 Youth Olympics with a total lift of 274kg. He was just 16 years old at the time and he contested in the weightlifting World Championships the next year, finishing with a ranking of 21 in the men's 67kg event.

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Jeremy's first, and only senior international title so far, came in the form of the 2021 Commonwealth Championships in Tashkent. He lifted an impressive total of 305kg (141kg and 164kg) to win Gold at the Commonwealth meet.

The Gold medallist holds three National Records – snatch 141kg, clean and jerk 167kg, total 306kg – in 67kg.

The 19-year-old has been struggling with back and knee injuries since December 2021 event and was out of action for a long time after that. The gold medal in Tashkent, however, was enough for him to confirm qualification to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.