Jagdish Vishwakarma takes the honours in men’s 96kg category

NAGERCOIL: Services’ Jagdish Vishwakarma remained calm under pressure to claim the senior men’s 96kg

Services’ Jagdish Vishwakarma remained calm under pressure to claim the senior men’s 96kg gold with a total of 335kg, three kg ahead of RSPB’s Harshad Wadekar, in the National weightlifting championships here on Thursday.

The 25-year-old, training with the Army Sports Institute (Pune) finished first in snatch (149kg) ahead of Harshad (146), but in clean & jerk, even though both had an identical lift of 186kg, Harshad emerged the winner for having cleared it first.

In snatch, Jagdish appeared good in all three attempts. His technique was perfect in the first, and in the second, he went two steps backward after the completion of the lift. In the third, he almost did the same. Harshad cleared 146kg before twice failing to clear 150.

In clean & jerk, Harshad was outstanding in his first two lifts, clearing 180 & 186 before erring on his third attempt of 193. Jagdish, who then cleared 182 & 186, went for an ambitious 194 but failed.

“This is my first gold medal at the Senior Nationals. There is not much competition at this level for me. I prepared for one year for the Nationals. I am keen to win a medal at the Commonwealth Championships to be held in Delhi in July 2023,” said Jagdish.

The results: 96kg: Men: Senior: 1. Jagdish Vishwakarma (SSCB) 149, 186, 335; 2. Harshad Wadekar (RSPB) 146, 186, 332; 3. Vaishnav Thakur (Mah) 142, 182, 324.

Junior: 1. Alok Yadav (UP) 126, 179, 305; 2. Rahul (Har) 134, 168, 302; 3. Dilbag Singh (Pun) 133, 165, 298.