Lovepreet and Gurdeep bag gold

NAGERCOIL

SSCB’s Lovepreet Singh and Gurdeep Singh of RSPB, bronze medallists at the Birmingham Commmonwealth Games last year, won golds in the men’s 109kg and +109kg respectively at the National weightlifting championships here on Saturday.

Lovepreet lifted a total of 343 with a snatch effort of 155 and clean and jerk effort of 188 to finish first, edging out Avinash by 1kg. While Avinash emerged first in snatch with a lift of 162, he had a clean & jerk of 180 for a total of 342.

Lovepreet, who holds the National record in all three categories, was not at all happy. “I should have done well. I was not fully fit as I had a swelling near my elbow while going for the second lift in snatch,” he said.

Gurdeep, who holds all three National records like Lovepreet, chose not to take the second and third attempts in clean & jerk after lifting 205kg on the first. He had by then clinched the gold with a total of 365. Vipan Kumar (351) and S. Rudramayan (332) came second and third.

The results:

109kg: Men: 1. Lovepreet Singh 155, 188, 343; 2. Avinash (Pun) 162, 180, 342; 3. Pradeep Kumar Reddy (UP) 151, 181, 332. Juniors: 1. Akash Kaushal (MP) 136, 173, 309; 2. Gyanesh (Har) 137, 161, 298; 3. Bhola Singh 138, 159, 297.

+109kg: Men: 1. Gurdeep Singh (RSPB) 160, 205, 365; 2. Vipan Kumar 195, 195; 351; 3. S. Rudramayan (RSPB) 155, 177, 332. Juniors: 1. Paramvir Singh (Chd) 143, 176, 319; 2. Kesav Bissa (Raj) 128, 161, 289; 3. Navjot Singh Lal (CG) 125, 157, 282.