DEHRADUN, Feb 3: Punjab weightlifter Mehak Sharma broke three national records — all in her name — out of the four that tumbled on Sunday en route to winning the gold medal in a stunning performance at the 38th National Games here.
The 29-year-old Mehak was the star performer on the final day of weightlifting competition.
Competing in the women’s 87+ kg category, Mehak lifted 106kg in snatch, surpassing her previous national mark of 105kg. She then came up with 141kg in her final clean-and-jerk attempt, bettering her national record of 140kg.
With a total lift of 247kg, three kilograms more than her previous national mark of 244kg, Mehak beat her rivals by a huge margin for the gold.
The silver medal went to Purnima Pandey of Uttar Pradesh, who lifted a total of 216kg, while the bronze was secured by Satya Jyothi of Karnataka with a total lift of 201kg.
MEN’S WEIGHTLIFTING
In the men’s 109+kg category, another national record was broken by S Rudramayan of Tamil Nadu when he lifted 175kg in snatch, bettering the national mark of 172kg in the name of Gurdeep Singh of Railways.
However, Rudramayan could not maintain his form in the clean and jerk, lifting 180kg and finishing with a total of 355kg, which earned him the silver medal.
The gold medal was won by Lovepreet Singh of Services, who lifted 165kg in snatch and 202kg in clean and jerk, bringing his total to 367kg. Uttarakhand’s Vivek Pandey secured the bronze medal with a total lift of 280kg.
SWIMMING
Karnataka swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu continued their fierce rivalry in the pool on Monday, each clinching their seventh gold medal of the National Games to stay on course to becoming the best male and female athletes, respectively, at the multi-sport showpiece.
Desinghu, the 14-year-old sensation, came first in the women’s 400m freestyle with a new Games record of 4 minutes and 24.60 seconds and then formed the quartet with Nataraj and two others to win gold in the mixed 4x100m freestyle event with a time of 3 minutes and 41.03 seconds.
The other two members of the team were Akash Mani and Nina Venkatesh.
The 24-year-old Nataraj, also a Paris Olympian like Desinghu, grabbed his second gold of the day in the men’s 50m backstroke with a time of 26.09 seconds.
With the two gold on Monday, Desinghu have won nine medals so far in the Games, having earlier won five gold (200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay and 50m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay), one silver (50m butterfly) and one bronze — (4x100m relay medley).
For Nataraj, Monday’s two gold took him to eight medals in total in the ongoing Games.
He has earlier won five gold — 200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m freestyle relay medley, 4x200m freestyle relay and 100m backstroke — and a silver — 50m freestyle.
Nataraj and Desinghu would be strong contenders to win the best male and female athletes of the Games. (PTI)