India's Ajay Singh missed out on a bronze medal by a whisker in a nail-biting men's 81kg weightlifting competition at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Monday.
The 25-year-old's total lift of 319kg (143kg snatch,176kg clean and jerk) was not enough to win him a medal in Birmingham as he fell short by just a kilo behind Nicholas Vachon (320kg) of Canada, who finished third.
Meanwhile, England's Chris Murray (325kg) set a new Games record in overall lift to walk away with the gold followed by Australia's Kyle Bruce (323kg) in the second place.
If succeeded, Ajay would have become the seventh Indian weightlifter to have won a medal in Birmingham.
Ajay Singh had a rather shaky start in his first attempt at snatch, trying to lift 137kg. The Indian Army man almost lost his balance but managed to hold himself steady on the platform to complete a successful lift.
Unlike his first attempt, Ajay's technique looked far better in his second try as he completed a 140kg lift, one higher than the second best.
However, with medal favourite Kyle Bruce of Australia managing 143kg in his first attempt and Chris Murray of England lifting 141kg in his second, Ajay had to up the ante and he managed it successfully by lifting 143kg in his third and final attempt.
At the end of snatch event, the Rajasthan-born lifter was in joint-second place along with Australia's Bruce (143kg), while local favourite Murray topped the standings with a 144kg lift.
In clean and jerk, Ajay began with a 172kg lift in his first attempt which put the 25-year-old straightaway on top.
He increased his weight a further four kilograms to complete a 176kg lift in his second attempt as the competition turned out to be a tight contest with Murray, Bruce and Canada's Nicholas Vachon close on trail.
However, with the event turning out to be a closely fought affair, Ajay tried to lift a 180kg in his final attempt, only to falter and lose out on a bronze medal.
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