Gururaja Poojary of India up India’s medal count at the Commonwealth Games 2022 to two with a bronze medal in the men’s 61kg category on Saturday at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull.
Following fellow Indian lifter Sanket Sargar’s silver medal in the 55kg, Gururaja lifted a total of 269 kgs (snatch – 118kg; clean and jerk – 151kg) to finish on the podium in Birmingham 2022.
This was Gururaja Poojary’s second consecutive CWG medal.
Guriraja earned a silver medal in the men’s 56kg category in the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia but will participate in the 61kg category in Birmingham 2022.
“I’m very happy. I think my best performance came today. I moved up categories so it was difficult. I needed to lift 151kg in my last attempt to win the medal and had to start giving it my all. I’m happy I managed to succeed. I got married last year but have been preparing for Commonwealth Games since then and have had to be away from my wife a lot. I want to dedicate this medal to my wife,” – Gururaja.
Gururaja Poojary hoisted 113kg and 118kg on his first two tries in the snatch event but failed to lift 120kg on his third.
After finishing fourth in the snatch round, the 29-year-old Gururaja required a strong clean and jerk performance to get into the medal spots. With his final try, he set a personal best clean and jerk lift of 151kg.
Gururaja had registered 144kg and 148kg in his first two attempts before the enormous third attempt to unseat Canada’s Youri Simard, who finished fourth with only one kilogramme less than the Indian.
Muhamad Aznil Bin Bidin of Malaysia, who won the 62kg gold medal in Gold Coast 2018, earned the medal with a total lift of 285kg (127kg+158kg), a new Games record. Morea Baru of Papua New Guinea, who placed second behind Bidin on the Gold Coast, had to settle for silver with 273kg (121kg+152kg).
