Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga is homesick, wishes to return to Aizawl

The 17-year-old has lost four kilograms of weight in the last month and this concerns the Indian Weightlifting Federation.

Promising Indian weightlifter, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, wishes to return back to his hometown in Aizawl for a break soon. The 17-year-old is a former gold-medalist in the Youth Olympics but has been stranded at NIS Patiala since the commencement of this nationwide lockdown in March.

This confinement has been hard on several athletes who weren’t allowed to continue with their usual training methods due to obvious reasons. However, Jeremy is still a teenager and is naturally undergoing some homesickness due to staying away from his family members for a considerable period of time now.

Apparently, he has lost four kilograms of weight in the last month or so and this has come in the notice of the Indian Weightlifting Federation. The IWF acted swiftly on the same and granted the lad a month-long break to rejuvenate. Accordingly, a senior official from the association spoke to Mail Today, a Delhi-based tabloid. He claimed, “He (Jeremy) has lost weight, which is because he is not in a good frame of mind. The boy wants to be with his immediate family and will return after a month’s break.”

In the Youth Olympics in 2018, Jeremy Lalrinnunga had claimed the gold medal in the 62 kg weight category. However, he is presently placed in the 67 kg slab. The individual from the federation pondered upon this dilemma and explained, “His weight loss is not good for the simple reason he is trying to get qualification for the postponed Tokyo Olympics in the 67kg category. We are sure Jeremy will do very well with a break away from routine.”

He even revealed that they had requested the Sports Authority of India to release Jeremy for a month’s break starting from June 17th. However, he might have to follow some regulations including an RT-PCR test and even a potential period of home-quarantine upon his arrival to Aizawl.

In this report by India Today, former weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari put forth her thoughts regarding this situation. Malleshwari is the first female athlete from the nation to bag an Olympic medal; a feat that she attained in Sydney in 2000. Understandably, she acknowledges the troubles that Jeremy is going through.

The 44-year-old stated, “The reasons for his weight loss are not due to any medical reason but because the boy is unhappy now. At his age, to be homesick is but natural. I am sure Jeremy will do well after the break. Unless an athlete is in a good shape of mind, he or she cannot be expected to do well.”

The ongoing unprecedented pandemic has indicated that even the most formidable of individuals crave the support and presence of their closed ones. However, the reason behind Jeremy not being granted an immediate leave and only one from the 17th of June needs to be looked into in more detail.

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