Lifter Sathish Kumar defends CWG title

Indian weightlifters continued to dominate at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) with the veteran Sathish Kumar Sivalingam defending his title in comprehensive fashion in the men's 77 kilogram event here on Saturday.

The Indian registered a total of 317 kg which included 144 kg in snatch and 173 kg in clean and jerk.

England's Jack Oliver took silver with a total of 312 kg while Francois Etoundi ensured bronze for hosts Australia with 305.

This was the second consecutive CWG title for the defending champion from India.

His performance was not as impressive as the one he had produced at the Glasgow Games four years ago, but it was still enough to defend his crown.

This was India's third gold medal at this year's CWG. Women weightlifters Mirabai Chanu (48kg) and Sanjita Chanu (53kg) had won their respective events in the first couple of days.

Sathish did not enjoy a great start as he could only manage a lift of 136 kg in his opening attempt in the snatch and 140 in his second.

The 26-year-old then hoisted 144 kg in his third attempt to ensure second place in the standings with Jack in pole position.

The Englishman topped the snatch phase with 145 kg in his second attempt. But a failed bid at 148 kg in his final attempt meant he could only take a lead of one kilogram into the clean and jerk stage.

Sathish showed his true class in the clean and jerk as he comfortably managed 169 kg in his first attempt to go into the lead.

With Jack and Francois managing only one successful lift each, the Indian lifted 173 kg in his second attempt to ensure the gold medal.

Such was his dominance that he did not need to come out for his final attempt as Jack and Francois could only manage 167 kg and 162 kg respectively.

Later in the day, Vandna Gupta had a disappointing outing in the women's 63 kg category.

Vandna finished fifth with a combined effort of 180 kg. She managed 80 kg in snatch and 100 kg in clean and jerk.

Vandna was clearly struggling for form and ran into early trouble when she missed her first two attempts at 80 kg before finally succeeding with the third.

Her woes continued in clean and jerk as she struggled to lift 100 kg in her opening attempt.

She then failed at 104 kg in her final two attempts to close out a woeful campaign.

Canada's Maude Charron won the event with a total of 220 kg. That included 98 kg in snatch and a CWG record of 122 kg in clean and jerk.

Zoe Smith of England trailed far behind at 207 kg for the silver medal while Mona Pretorius got South Africa the bronze with a total of 206 kg.

--IANS

ajb/vm