National Games | Purnima Pandey grabs gold in 87kg weightlifting

GANDHINAGAR:

Commonwealth championship gold medallist Purnima Pandey overcame a stiff back to avenge her loss to National champion Ann Mariya M.T. despite totaling a below-par 215kg in the women’s +87kg category at the weightlifting arena of the National Games here on Tuesday.

Purnima, who had done 228kg in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, benefitted from her snatch showing of 95kg to establish a five kg lead.

She produced an error-free clean and jerk performance of 120kg even as Ann topped the second segment of the competition by lifting one kg more.

Ann had claimed the National title with an aggregate of 231kg, while Purnima had taken the silver by getting two kg less in Bhubaneswar in March last.

“I was not prepared for the National Games as I have been undergoing rehab for the back injury. Even today, I came here just to participate in the event, the gold medal was not my goal. The injury has been troubling me for quite some time and I want to make sure that I get back to full fitness before the national camp starts. We have a busy season ahead,” said Purnima.

Services’ Vipan Kumar claimed the men’s +109kg title with an overall performance of 356kg on the concluding day of the weightlifting competitions.

The results:

Men: +109kg: 1. Vipan Kumar (SSCB) snatch 161kg, clean and jerk 195kg, total 356kg; 2. Hitesh Kumar (Har) 150kg, 187kg, 337kg; 3. Shyopat Singh (Raj) 148kg, 183kg, 331kg.

Women: +87kg: 1. Purnima Pandey (UP) 95kg, 120kg, total 215kg; 2. Ann Mariya M.T. (Ker) 90kg, 121kg, 211kg; 3. Manpreet Kaur (Pun) 87kg, 120kg, 207kg.