Commonwealth Weightlifting C'ships: Ajay Singh completes gold medal hat-trick

Asian Gamesbound weightlifter Ajith N lived up to his top billing as he was crowned the 73kg champion while Ajay Singh completed a hattrick of gold medals at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships here on FridayFresh from sealing World Championships and Asian Games berths Ajith 73kg was not at his best but still lifted a total of 308kg which was 22kg more than his nearest rival Jonathan Chin of England 286kg who clinched the silverThis is not my best but its okay I had the Asian Games trials 15 days before so I didnt get much time for recovery It is a gold for India My first gold in a senior international tournament Ajith told PTIAjith who will be competing at the World Championships in September is also in the running for an Olympic berthHowever it will be a tall task for the 23yearold reigning national champion who is currently 32nd in the senior mens ranking list to make the cut for the Paris GamesAjiths best effort in the ranking period is the 307kg he lifted at the Asian Championships while Japans Masanori Miyamoto leads the list with a best effort of 344kgTo put things into perspective Chinas Shi Zhiyong won the gold with a world record lift of 364kg 166kg198kgThe Tamil Nadu lifter is hopeful of increasing his personal best at the upcoming two events in SeptemberAjay on the other hand returned from a wrist injury to stand atop the podium for the third consecutive time in the 81kg weight class with a total effort of 306kg 136kg170kgI have competed in a competition after a really long time so it feels great to be a medallist This medal will motivate me to do better Ajay saidI have worked hard after my wrist injury which I suffered ahead of the Asian Games trials I had missed out on the Commonwealth Games by 1 kg so I worked hard really hard to get back into the national camp he addedCommonwealth Games bronze medallist Harjinder Kaur was the third Indian medallist in the senior categoryThe Punjab lifter won the silver medal in the womens 71 kg after heaving 211kg 91kg120kg She finished behind Australian Jacqueline Nichele whose gold medal effort was 216kg 94kg122kgIn the last session of the day teenager Sanjana put up an impressive display to win the gold in womens 76kg junior eventThe 16yearold who lifted 196kg 88kg108kg was miles ahead of all the other lifters in the field including the seniorsIn fact had she competed in the senior category she would have been crowned champion there too as gold medallist Essence Hunt lifted 177kg 77kg100kg which was 19kg less than Sanjanas best effortThe Australian who also competed in the junior event had finished behind the IndianAlso Read Mirabai Chanu to spearhead Indian campaign in World Weightlifting Championships in RiyadhThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever