Jeremy Lalrinnunga sets national record en route to Senior National Weightlifting Championships gold medal

Kolkata: Youth Olympic champion Jeremy Lalrinnunga was not at his best but the teenager still bettered his clean and jerk record to clinch the men’s 67kg title in the 72nd men’s and 35th womens’ Senior National Weightlifting Championships on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_5342751” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Jeremy Lalrinnunga. Image Courtesy: Twitter@imsathisholy[/caption] The Mizoram lifter, who became the first Indian to win a gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018, lifted 132kg after two failed attempts but he was at his best in clean and jerk to lift 167kg en route to a total of 299kg. The effort still was way short of his personal best of 306kg recorded at the International Qatar Cup in December last year. Earlier, Maharashtra dominated the show in the men’s categories on the opening day of the event at the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra. Shubham Kolekar of Maharashtra reigned supreme with two records in close competition with Gururaja in the men’s 61kg category. Kolekar was put under pressure after the Services lad bettered his own national record lifting 119kg to open up a four-kg lead after the round of snatch lifts. But the bandana-tied Kolekar was at his best in clean and jerk as he lifted 157kg in his third attempt for a total of 272kg and registered two national records in the process. Going neck-and-neck with 152kgs each after two rounds, Kolekar increased the weight by 5kgs in the final round and sealed the gold. Gururaja also attempted 157kg but in vain. Another Maharashtra lifter Sanket Sargar shattered three national records (108kgs+135kgs, 243kgs total) and bettered the total by two kgs to clinch the men’s 55kg gold.