'Was confident of bagging gold': Jeremy Lalrinnunga speaks after medal win

The weightlifter lifted a Commonwealth Games record 300kg to claim the top honour.

On the third day of the Commonwealth Games 2022, Jeremy Lalrinnunga helped India win its second gold medal. Jeremy won gold in the men's 67kg weightlifting category after lifting a total of 300kgs.

He had lifted 140kg in the snatch category and 160kg in the Clean and Jerk category, for a total Commonwealth Games record lift of 300kg. Lalrinnunga was "very thrilled but not satisfied" despite lifting the gold.

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"I am overjoyed to have won the gold medal, but I am disappointed with my performance. I expected to do better, but winning gold for my country is a source of great pride for me," said the 19-year-old after a gold-winning performance. "Happy for all the love that I have received from back home. There were so many who came to see me here in the stadium as well and I just want to say thank you to everyone.”

He also described the difficulty and discomfort he felt while training for a weightlifting competition.

"The warm-up was quite well, but after a certain point, my front thigh and inner thigh muscles cramped. It prevented me from walking for a long time and stopped me from exceeding the 140kg threshold during warm-up," Jeremy Lalrinnunga said of his injury during the weightlifting event.

The CWG Gold medalist was greeted by the Queen of Indian Weightlifting Mirabai Chanu, prior to his competition and that inspired him to go for gold. He said, “Didi (Mirabai Chanu) motivates me a lot. Before going into the competition, she met me and inspired me to do good. She was cheering for me from the very first row. I got to learn so many things from her whether it was about hard work and her journey to the Olympics and all. She guides us every time.”

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After lifting 136kg on his first attempt at the Snatch, Jeremy Lalrinnunga ascended to the top of the leaderboard. Edidiong Joseph Umoafia finished second with 130kg, and Vaipava Ioane finished third with 127kg in his debut. He then set a new Commonwealth Games record after lifting 140kg in his second Snatch attempt.

“I was very confident of bagging the gold in this Commonwealth games. I trained really hard for the last two months and had no injury concerns before the event,” said Jeremy.

Jeremy, who participated in his first CWG in Birmingham, was excited to book his first senior-level victory post the Youth Olympics games and after overcoming a series of injuries. He said, “After youth Olympics, I haven't achieved such a big thing like this. This is my first medal at the senior level competition and I have had to face a few injuries.

"People kept asking me, when are you going to bring medals after the youth Olympics. And I kept working hard to win a medal for my country. I couldn't give the performance as I expected but I've achieved what I wanted to.”

Jeremy was determined to lift the weights for India even though he was struggling with a cramp in his lower back. But facing injuries comes with the package for an athlete. “I'll recover very quickly from my latest injury, there's a minor muscle issue and will be ready for the next tournament soon.”

Post his win, Jeremy dedicated it to his biggest supporters – his grandparents. He said “My Dada and Dadi used to always pray for me. My Dada left me before I left for Youth Olympics and my Dadi left me post that and I couldn’t be home both times. I know that before every lift I follow everything that they told me to say and that’s why I dedicated my medal to them.”

Meanwhile, the country is overjoyed with Jeremy's remarkable achievement. PM Narender Modi congratulated the weightlifter on his gold medal win. In a tweet, the Prime Minister said that Jeremy has "brought enormous pride and glory" to the country at such a young age.

Jeremy’s gold is India’s fifth medal in the ongoing CWG 2022, with all five coming in weightlifting. Mirabai Chanu won gold in the women’s 49kgs category, Sanket Sargar and Bindyarani Devi won silver in men’s 55kgs and women’s 55kgs categories respectively. Gururaja Poojary won bronze in the men’s 61kg category.

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