CWG 2022: Achinta Sheuli shines with gold

The gold rush from the Weightlifting Hall continued for India as the Achinta Sheuli 20 the son of a rickshaw driver who grew up in a village two hours from Howrah picked up the yellow metal in the menrsquos 73kg category on Sunday nightThe simple lad who confesses that he owes his career to his family and especially his brother Alok who supported him and sent him money during his training dedicated the medal to all at home Achinta himself took to do tedious embroidery work to support his familySelfless familyThe siblings lost their father early but elder brother Alok who himself loved weightlifting and working out at the gym for bodybuilding chose to sacrifice his own interest to support his younger brotherIndiarsquos Achanta Sheuli during his 73kg Snatch liftOn Sunday after Mirabai Chanu 49kg and Jeremy Lalrinnunga 67kg Achintarsquos effort became Indiarsquos third gold medal at these Games Indiarsquos total of six medals so far have all come from the lifters The other medals are two silver Sanket Mahadev Sargar in 55kg and Bindiyarani in womenrsquos 55kg and one bronze Poojary Gururaja in menrsquos 61kgAchinta registered a best lift of 143kg in Snatch and 170kg in Clean and Jerk for a total of 313kg at the National Exihibition Centre NEC here He said ldquoI was trying to break my personal best of 316kg but that didnrsquot happen today Irrespective of that Irsquom happy with the gold This medal will help me take my career to the next levelrdquoAlso Read Winning this gold medal was easy Mirabai ChanuSheuli is one of the numerous new sporting faces the country has seen emerged in the postCovid period He first hit the spotlight at the 2021 Commonwealth Championships in Tashkent which were held concurrently with the World Championship Sheuli won the gold there with a total of 316kg which was an improvement on his showing of 313kg at the World Juniors at the same venue six months earlier in May 2021At Birmingham Sheuli opened the snatch with 137kg and then set a new CWG record with 140kg on his second attempt He went even better on the third with 143kg to take a five kilogram advantage over Malaysiarsquos Erry Hidayat whose father Hamidon Hidayat is a former Commonwealth Games champion Hamidon Hidayat won one gold and a silver in the days when separate medals were awarded for Snatch CampJ and totalGames recordIn CampG Sheuli lifted 166kg in his first attempt but failed on this first try at 170kgmdasha new Games record before making up and lifting the same in his third attemptHidayatrsquos only chance was to go 11kg over his first attempt of 165kg to dislodge Sheuli from the top The Malaysian failed both times at 176kg Canadarsquos Shad Darsigny won the bronze with a 298kg 135kg166kg effortldquoI was egged on by the crowd and because of their encouragement through the final lift This is by far the best performance of my career I have not experienced a crowd like thisrdquo said Sheuli whose story is one of hard work and selfless family sportMeanwhile in the menrsquos 81kg Indiarsquos Ajay Singh fell one kilo short of a medal and finished fourth He lifted 143kg in snatch and managed a best of 176kg in CampJ for a total of 319 Englandrsquos Chris Murray 144 kg plus 181 kg with 325 kg total won the gold while Australiarsquos Kyle Bruce 143kg180kg with 323 kg was second and Canadarsquos Nicholas Vachon 140kg180kg with 320kg total was third