Medals pouring in! Deepak Lather wins bronze for India in Commonwealth Games 2018

NewsBharati    06-Apr-2018
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Gold Coast, April 6: Gifting India its fourth medal from Commonwealth Games, Deepak Lather becomes the youngest Indian Weightlifter to seal a bronze in the 21st Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast on Friday.

 
In his first appearance at the quadrennial games, the 18-year-old from the village of Shadipur in Haryana, who was once enrolled at Pune’s Army Sports Institute as a diver has finished with a combined effort of 295kg (136 in snatch and 159 in clean & jerk) at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on Friday.


Lather, two years ago broke the Commonwealth Youth Games record in Samoa, moved into medal contention with lifts of 132kg and 136kg in the snatch event, but slipped to level second after failing to lift 138kg in his third attempt. In the clean & jerk, a section in which there were six lifters with higher weights, the youngster produced a personal best of 159kg, bettering his previous best of 157, but failed to lift 162 in his third attempt.

 
Born into a family of farmers, Deepak took to weightlifting at the age of nine when his father Bijender noticed his strength while ploughing the field and lifting burlap sacks of fodder onto his back. In 2008, he impressed during a series of trials conducted across Haryana by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and was chosen to travel to Pune where, interestingly, he was trained as a diver. As it turned out, Deepak was disinterested in diving and found his calling when he was re-assigned to be a weightlifter.

Praising the young blood for his amazing talent and grabbing bronze for India on the global sports platform, President Kovind tweeted congratulating Deepak Lather.


Along with that, PM Modi also congratulated and lauded the efforts taken by the sportsperson for their immense talent and great wishes for future endeavors.


Earlier in the day, Sanjita Chanu won India's second gold medal in the women's 53kg weightlifting category. On Thursday, Mirabai Chanu and P Gururaja opened the account for Team India by winning gold and silver medals respectively.