Tamil Nadu rewards weightlifter Sivalingam

The government of Tamil Nadu announced a cash reward of Rs. 50 lakhs for weightlifter Satish Kumar Sivalingam for winning a gold medal at the ongoing Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Saturday.

Sivalingam lifted a total of 317 kg (144 kg in Snatch and 173 kg in Clean-and-Jerk) in men's 77 kg on Day 3 of the Games.

Sivalingam's medal was his second consecutive gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. He had earlier bagged a gold in Glasgow in 2014.

"You have done both the nation and the state of Tamil Nadu proud by winning a gold medal at the 21st Commonwealth Games. Kindly accept my heartiest congratulations on behalf of the government and people of Tamil Nadu on this splendid achievement. What is even more remarkable is that you have won a second gold medal in successive Commonwealth Games," Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said in an official statement.

India have so far bagged five medals at the multi-sport event and all of them have come in weightlifting.

Earlier, women weightlifters Sanjita Chanu and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu did India proud by bagging gold medals in the 53 kg and 48 kg categories respectively.

Deepak Lather won bronze in the men's 69 kg category on Day 2 while weightlifter won silver P. Gururaja in the 56 kg category.