Express News Service
CHENNAI: WITH 10 medals (3 gold, as many silver and 4 bronze), Indian weightlifters once again topped the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The gold medallists were Mirabai Chanu (49kg), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg) and Achinta Sheuli (73kg). These medallists, along with other CWG participants, will not represent the country in the upcoming Asian Weightlifting Championships. The continental event is scheduled in Manama, Bahrain from October 6 to 16.
Given the hectic international schedule, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) has decided to give an opportunity to the youngsters for the Asian Championships. Their senior counterparts will focus on tournaments, which will serve as qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“The IWLF decided in a meeting that CWG participants should not be given back-to-back events as they had just competed at the CWG. Besides, this is not an Olympic qualifying event. The first such event is the World Championships in December. So the lifters from the core group will focus on the Worlds while others will get a chance to represent the country at the Asian event,” Vijay Sharma, weightlifting head coach, told this daily.
The IWLF had sent preliminary entries for the continental tournament as every participating federation was required to send that latest by August 8.
As per the regulations available on the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) website for the Asian Championships, a member federation can send preliminary entries of a maximum of 20 men and as many women. The final entry of 10 men and as many women apart from two reserve lifters for each category has to be sent latest by September 8. However, the member federation cannot add or change athletes from the preliminary entries.
“Gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded in the snatch, clean & jerk and total in each weight category. Team trophies will be awarded to the best male and female athletes, as well as to the best six teams respectively for both men’s and women’s competitions in accordance with IWF Team Classification,” according to the regulations.
The delegation has to reach the venue on October 5 while the opening ceremony will be organised a couple of days later. The competitions will start the next day with events in the women’s 45kg weight category.
As many as 20 weightlifters are training for the event at NIS Patiala. They will soon be joined by the CWG participants, who have opted for a small break after the quadrennial event. “The CWG participants will join the camp this week. I will also rejoin the camp on Tuesday. The camp will continue in Patiala for both the events,” signed off Sharma.
Asian C’ships weight categories
Men: 55kg, 61kg, 67kg, 73kg, 81kg, 89kg, 96kg, 102kg, 109kg, +109kg.
Women: 45kg, 49kg, 55kg, 59kg, 64kg, 71kg, 76kg, 81kg, 87kg, +87kg.
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