Ajaya Babu wins silver in men's 79kg weightlifting at Commonwealth Games 2026

Ajaya Babu also set a new CWG record in Snatch with a lift of 149kg

Sixteen years after his father stood on a Commonwealth Games podium, Valluri Ajaya Babu has gone one step further, winning silver in the men’s 79kg weightlifting event at the 2026 Glasgow Games with a combined lift of 330kg.

It was about as close as weightlifting contests get. Babu missed out on gold by just a single kilogram, with Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad edging him out with a Games record total of 331 kg.

The Indian lifter set the tone early, as his 149kg snatch was enough to set a new Commonwealth Games record and put him at the top of the standings heading into the clean and jerk. He kept the pressure on there too, clearing 174kg, then 178kg, before finishing with 181kg.

Back at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, Ajaya’s father, Valluri Srinivasa Rao, won bronze in the men’s 69kg category. Sixteen years on, his son has bettered that with a silver medal, marking a full-circle moment for a family whose blood runs with weightlifting.

Related: Commonwealth Games 2026: India’s medal tally after Day 4, 27th July

For Ajaya Babu himself, this is the standout result of his career so far. A Games record in the snatch and a battle that went down to the wire against one of the world’s leading weightlifters make the 21-year-old one of India’s best weightlifters currently on the international circuit, and this medal adds further glory to what has already been a strong weightlifting campaign for India in Glasgow.

Men’s 79kg weightlifting final standings

• Gold: Erry Hidayat Muhammad (Malaysia)
• Silver: Ajaya Babu (India)
• Bronze: Chris Murray (England)

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