Teenage sensation Jeremy Lalrinnunga lifts India to second gold medal at Commonwealth Games

The 19-year old weightlifter stood atop the podium in the men's 67kg weightlifting with a total of 300kgs.

Jeremy Lalrinnunga’s combined tally of 300kgs proved to be more than enough in the end. Jeremy lifted 140kgs in snatch and 160kgs in clean and jerk to pocket the gold. Vaipava Nevo Ioane of Samoa won silver (293kgs) and Edidiong Joseph Umoafia of Nigeria won bronze (290kgs).

Jeremy was set to begin his snatch round with a lift of 130kgs. However, he along with his coaches decided to kick-off with a lift of 136kgs. He pulled it off without much effort. In his second snatch lift, he lifted 140kgs to break the games record. In his third snatch lift, he couldn’t execute the lift of 143kgs. Nevertheless, he had a lead of 10kgs going into the clean and jerk round.

Jeremy was set to begin his clean and jerk round with a lift of 160kgs. He changed it to 154kgs though and achieved it. He came back to lift 160kgs in his second attempt. The lifter was unsuccessful in his third attempt of 165kgs. He seemed to have injured himself towards the end stage of the clean and jerk round. Maybe, that proved to be his undoing.

Rise through the ranks

Jeremy’s father was a national-level boxer. Jeremy has been significantly benefited from the government schemes like the TOPS and Khelo India. He trains at the SAI centre in Patiala, Punjab. He is being trained by the national coach Vijay Sharma.

The Mizoram-born weightlifter has numerous achievements to his name. He won gold at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires. Last year, he stood atop the podium at the 2021 Commonwealth Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

Indian weightlifters on top

Jeremy’s gold is India’s fifth medal in the ongoing CWG 2022. All of the five have been won by the weightlifters. Mirabai Chanu won gold in women’s 49kgs category, Sanket Sargar and Bindyarani Devi won silver in men’s 55kgs and women’s 55kgs category respectively. Gururaja Poojary won bronze in men’s 61kg category.

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