India’s weightlifting campaign in the London Olympics ended today on a dismal note with Katulu Ravi Kumar coming up with a below-par performance in the men’s 69kg category at the ExCel Arena here.
Ravi Kumar, who had just recovered in time for the event after a bout of fever, lifted a below par 303kg — 136kg in snatch and 167kg in clean and jerk — to finish sixth in the 10-lifter Group B competition.
The Group A competition among 14 top weightlifters of this category will be held later tonight.
Ravi Kumar, who had just recovered in time for the event after a bout of fever, lifted a below par 303kg. Reuters
In major weightlifting events, the top among the participants are placed in Group A so that the performance of the lifters are improved while competing with the best. Those participants who are in the lower rung are placed in Group B. The first position in Group B went to North Korea’s Kim Myong Hyok, who lifted a total of 329kg (145+184).
The second and third spots went to Junior Antonio Rivero Sanchez of Venezuela and Sardar Hasanov of Azerbaijan, who lifted 328kg (148+180) and 321kg (145+176), respectively.
The CWG gold medallist Ravi had lifted a total of 311kg (141+170) to bag sixth spot at the recent Asian Championships, but even that effort would not have given him any chance for a podium finish.
Ravi Kumar blamed the fever he had in the past few days as the main reason for his poor show. ”I had a fever before the competition and I am disappointed that I did not perform well because of that,” he said.
On being part of the Olympic Games, he said, “My country will not be proud of my performance but I am proud to be in the world’s number one competition.”
The other Indian lifter in the fray, N Soniya Chanu had finished seventh in the women’s 48kg category on July 28.
PTI
