New Delhi: Mehak Sharma set three among the four national weightlifting records that were broken at the 38th National Games in Dehradun on Monday, emerging as the star performer on the final day of the competition.
Competing in the 87+ kg category, the 29-year-old lifted 106kg in snatch, bettering her previous national mark of 105kg and followed it up with 141kg in her final clean-and-jerk attempt to improve her national record of 140kg.
Her total lift of 247kg was three kilograms more than her previous national mark of 244kg, which enabled Mehak to win the gold medal by a huge margin.
Uttar Pradesh’s Purnima Pandey claimed silver with a total lift of 216kg, while Karnataka’s bronze was secured got bronze with a total lift of 201kg.
“I was confident because I had practised well, but I never thought I would break all three records. Now that I have done it, I am satisfied,” Mehak said after her win.
“I am very happy. I thank my coaches and my family members for this achievement. Nothing can be achieved in this game without the help of coaches.”
She had set her earlier three national records during the National Championships in Himachal Pradesh in October.
In the men’s 109+kg category, Tamil Nadu’s S Rudramayan set a national record with a lift 175kg in snatch, bettering the previous mark of 172kg by Gurdeep Singh of Railways.
But as Rudramayan lifted 180kg to lift a total of 355kg, he could only bag the silver medal. Lovepreet Singh of Services won gold with a total lift of 367kg while Uttarakhand’s Vivek Pandey got bronze with a total lift of 280kg.
Karnataka swimmers raise bar in swimming
Karnataka swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu both claimed seven gold medals each and are on way to become the best male and female athletes, respectively, at the multi-sport event.
Fourteen year old Desinghu won gold in the women’s 400m freestyle with a new Games record of 4 minutes and 24.60 seconds and then was part of the quartet with Nataraj, Akash Mani and Nina Venkates to claim gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle event with a timing of 3 minutes and 41.03 seconds.
Desinghu have bagged nine medals so far in the competition, having earlier won five gold (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay and 50m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay).
Nataraj, 24, won gold in the men’s 50m backstroke with a time of 26.09 seconds, to claim his eighth medal, including five gold (200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m freestyle relay medley, 4x200m freestyle relay and 100m backstroke).
Mehak Sharma broke three national weightlifting records at the 38th National Games in Dehradun on Monday Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
