Soaring high! Sathish Kumar Claims India's Third Weightlifting Gold

Gold Coast, April 7: Whoa! It’s raining medals for India in Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with totaling the number of medals to five, After as many as 4 medals which is 2 gold, one silver and one bronze were earned on Day 1 and Day 2 of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Satish Kumar Sivalingam gave the country its third gold medal, fifth overall as he topped the Commonwealth Games charts in 77 kg weightlifting at the Gold Coast, Australia.

The Indian weightlifter completed his snatch attempts with lifts of 136, 140 and 144 kg, respectively, only behind England's Jack Oliver, who lifted 145 in his second attempt in the 77 kg category. Sathish Kumar was crowned the Commonwealth Games 2018 champion after finishing with a combined score (snatch, clean and jerk) of 317. The bronze medal went to Australian showman Francois Etoundi, who lifted 305kg (136kg+169kg). Etoundi injured his shoulder after his final lift.

 

Satish had qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast after winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Senior Weightlifting Championships in Australia. The 2014 CWG gold medal-winner Sathish Kumar had lifted 148kg in snatch and 172kg in clean & jerk for a total effort of 320kg in senior men's 77kg. Sathish had confirmed himself a Rio Olympics berth after topping the selection trials in India, lifting a total of 336kg, comprising of 151kg in snatch and 185kg in clean and jerk. In Rio, however, he lifted 148kg in snatch and 181kg in clean and jerk for a total of 329kg to finish fourth in his group and 11th overall.

India do not have a great history in Men's weightlifting, but Satish's heroics means that is about to change. He was born to a former serviceman, who was national level weightlifter himself in Sathuvachari, Vellore, in Tamil Nadu. His father, Sivalingam, brought a premature end to his Army career and started working as a security guard at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University to make ends meet. Under his father's tutelage, Sathish started training at the age of 13.

Sathish was always the favourite from that point after choosing 169kg as his first clean and jerk lift while the Englishman opted for 167. Sathish easily made a successful left in his first attempt while Oliver seemed to have some difficulty but also made completed his attempt.

Sathish stepped to floor with the gold beckoning and with a big grunt made a successful clean and jerk lift of 173kg to secure the gold medal for India.