Punam Yadav wins gold in women’s 69 kg weightlifting event at Gold Coast CWG 2018. This is the fifth gold to India, all coming from weightlifting. She lifted a combined total of 222kg (100 snatch and 122 clean and jerk) to beat England’s Sarah Davies – her closest competitor – to take her second medal at the Commonwealth Games. The lifter from Uttar Pradesh improved upon the bronze medal she won four years ago in Glasgow.
At the Carrara Sports Club, the 22-year-old Punam lifted 95 in first attempt, 98 in second attempt and 100 in third attempt of the snatch event. In the clean and jerk, she lifted 118 in her first attempt but failed to lift 122 in her second attempt, later improvising on it in the third attempt.
England’s Sarah Davies took silver with a total lift of 217 (95 in snatch, 122 in clean & jerk) and bronze went to Fiji’s Vaivai who finished with 216 (100 in snatch, 116 in clean & jerk).
Punam overcame financial difficulties to realise her dream of representing the country with help from her sister and grand uncle. Her father, in the village of Chandmari, on the outskirts of Varanasi, had two other daughters and a son to provide for on his meager earnings as a small-time farmer.
