London: India’s top-ranked weightlifter, Ravi Kumar Katulu, crashed out of the 2012 London Olympics after finishing sixth in the first round of the men’s 69-kilogram event here on Tuesday.
Ravi, a medal hopeful for India, lifted 136 kilograms in the snatch and 167kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 303kg at the ExCel Arena.
But that wasn’t enough to see him through Group B, which was topped by Myong Hyok Kim of North Korea, who lifted 329 kgs in total.
The Indian blamed the fever he had in the past few days as the main reason for his poor show.
“I had a fever before the competition and I am disappointed that I did not perform well because of that,” he said.
Unfortunately for India, with this defeat, the country’s weightlifting campaign in the ongoing Games has also ended in failure. (UNI)
