Indian weightlifter Deepak Lather wins bronze in men’s 69 kg weightlifting category at Gold Coast CWG 2018 at Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre on Friday. The 18-year-old from Haryana lifted a total weight of 295 kg to finish at the podium, Gareth Evans of Wales claimed the gold with a total lift of 299 kg and Indika Dissanayake of Sri Lanka wins silver with total lift of 297 kg.
Related: Live Updates: India at Day 2 of Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018
Lathar lifted 132 kg in his first snatch attempt. He went better, and lifted 136 kg in second attempt, however, he failed to lift 138 kg in snatch on his final attempt and finished at joint 2nd position after the first event.
In the clean and jerk, he lifted 155 kg in his first attempt and 159 kg in his second attempt, but he couldn’t lift 162 kg on his final attempt.
At the penultimate moment of the competition, there was a huge drama as Vaipava Ioane of Samoa lifted 167kg in his first attempt of clean and jerk, which was the highest weight lifted in the event. In his second and third attempt he failed to lift 175 kg, which could win him the gold medal and also take away bronze from Lather, but it was not today as he settled for fourth position with total lift of 292 (125+167).
Deepak was born in a family of farmers and took weightlifting at the age of nine when his father Bijender noticed his vigourness while lifting wrapped sacks of fodder onto his back. Sports Authority of India got impressed by his performance in 2008, during a trial conducted across Haryana as he was chosen to travel to Pune where, he trained as a diver. Deepak was not interested in diving and later turned to weightlifting.
Earlier in the day, India’s Sanjita Chanu won gold for India in women’s 53kg category.
