Barely three hours into the 21st Commonwealth Games and weightlifter Gururaja has bagged India’s first medal, a silver in the 56 kg category.
25-year-old Gururaja equalled his personal best of 249kg (111+138) to finish second in a field where Malaysia's three-time Commonwealth Championships medallist Muhammad Izhar Ahmed (117+144) broke the Games record for snatch and overall lift.
I am very happy to have opened India’s medal account in the Games. It was nowhere close to being my best performance but I am glad that it was enough to get me a silver medal.Gururaja
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Gururaja was third after snatch, pulling off a best of 111kg after two good lifts before surviving a few nervy moments in clean and jerk. The Indian failed in his first two attempts before managing a good lift off his last chance to zoom to the top half of the table.
I didn’t quite understand why my second lift was not declared valid. It was disallowed for a very minor movement of the arm. Had it been allowed I could have gone for a higher lift an perhaps target gold. But still I am happy.Gururaja
Ahmed, meanwhile, bettered his compatriot Hamizan Amirul Ibrahim's snatch record of 116kg, created in 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. He then broke the overall Games record, which was also in the name of Ibrahim.
The third position was taken by Sri Lanka's Lakmal Chaturanga (114+134).
Gururaja, an Indian Air Force employee, is a quintessential Indian sports story of immense hardships and just a tiny bit of luck.
Son of a truck driver, Gururaja had aspired to be a wrestler for the longest time before being pushed into weightlifting by a watchful coach who saw potential in him.
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