Uttar Pradesh’s Tushar Chaudhary shatters three youth national records to clinch gold; Keerti Yadav makes golden return from injury 

Khel Today Bureau

Rajgir: Uttar Pradesh produced two gold medals on Day 4 of the weightlifting competitions at the Rajgir Sports Complex here on Tuesday. Tushar Chaudhary’s performance was the highlight of the day as he broke both the clean & jerk and total lift records held by Goldi Khan of Himachal Pradesh set at Indian Weightlifting Federation’s National Championships in Nagercoil in January 2023.

With stiff competition from Tamil Nadu’s R Kishore, who improved the snatch record twice and the overall lift record once, Tushar Chaudhary was unperturbed and produced a superlative performance to put his rival in shade and claim the gold. Tushar lifted 126kg in snatch and 163 in clean & jerk, a 10kg improvement in the discipline, and 7kg more than Goldi Khan’s overall total.

“I had only one thing in mind and that was to create a new record. I have been training well at a private academy in my hometown Bijnor. Hopefully, this record will attract talent scouts and I will get the chance to be inducted in either Khelo India Centre or a National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) as my father is a farmer and this will help someone like me in both training and injury recovery,” Tushar told SAI Media.

Kishore had to settle for silver despite improving the snatch record twice with 130kg and 135kg and the overall lift record once with a total of 288kg. Assam’s Chanakya Bora lifted 258kg for bronze.

Earlier, Keerti Yadav made a terrific comeback from a one-year injury layoff to clinch first gold for Uttar Pradesh in youth girls 76kg class. She lifted a total of 183kg, 81kg in snatch and 102kg in clean & jerk, to lift the gold medal in 76kg class. Maharashtra’s Grishma Yatin Thorat took the silver with an overall lift of 172kg and MA Hasina Shrin of Tamil Nadu clinched the bronze with 165kg.

Keerti sustained an ACL plus meniscus tear in her knee during training last year after participating in her first National Championships in Nagercoil. Thereafter she underwent knee surgery with clear instructions from her doctor not to train for next 10-12 months for better recovery. Fearing aggravation of the injury, she only competed in School Nationals earlier this year where she won gold in the same category. She was not sure of competing in Khelo India Youth Games as she also had her Class XII Board exams.

“I am very happy with my performance today as I only trained for 10 days before coming here. I was not shortlisted for the Khelo India Youth Games so I took a break for three months, went home and prepared for my Class XII Boards. Thankfully I have passed in first division. Whatever I have achieved is thanks to my brother. I didn’t have the money for training and coaching, but he helped me by doing odd jobs,” Keerti told SAI Media.

Born in a farming family at Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh, Keerti faced a lot of financial hurdles in her quest for excellence. Looking at the situation, her brother Praveen took the onus of supporting her financially by becoming a cab driver for Ola in Delhi. Praveen also competed in the nationals but had to leave weightlifting for a serious back injury few years back.

“I was also a national level lifter but had to leave weightlifting due to injury. I saw that she had interest in weightlifting and started supporting her. We come from a lower middle class family and do not have the finances to take sports as a profession. So, I took her to Delhi and started working in a private firm. I drive Ola in the night and train her in the day and after deducting all the rentals, I share everything I earn to fund her training. I am happy that she got gold in only 10 days of training. She didn’t deliver her best performance here as she is still not fully fit but this win will give her lots of confidence,” Praveen told SAI Media.

Meanwhile, Sai Vardhan J of Telangana clinched gold in youth boys 89kg with a total lift of 275kg (120+155). Chenchu Venkatesh of Andhra Pradesh took the silver by lifting overall 272kg, 6 kilograms more than the bronze medallist Rohan Kumar Mahto of Jharkhand.

NCOE Lucknow athlete Hariom Sharma clinched golf for Rajasthan in youth boys 96kg by lifting 121kg in snatch and 150kg in clean & jerk. Tamil Nadu’s Charu Kesh S B settled for silver with a total lift of 270kg. Aditya of Haryana took the bronze with a total lift of 266kg.

In youth girls 81kg, K Oviya endured nervous moments before clinching the first gold in weightlifting for Tamil Nadu in the current edition of Khelo India Youth Games. Oviya needed 100kg in clean & jerk to surpass Maharashtra’s Anandi Vinod Sangale, whose overall total was 175kg after lifting 80kg in snatch and 95kg in clean & jerk.

Anandi buckled under pressure and failed to lift 99kg in her remaining two attempts seeing Oviya attempt the same weight. After failing to lift 99kg in her second attempt, Oviya put the barbell 1 kg higher to clinch the yellow metal. Allu Revathi of Andhra Pradesh settled for bronze at 173kg.

RESULTS

Youth boys 89kg: Gold – Sai Vardhaj J (TEL) 275kg, Silver – Chenchu Venkatesh (AP) 272kg, Bronze – Rohan Kumar Mahto (JKD) 266kg;

Youth Girls 76kg: Gold – Keerti Yadav (UP) 183kg, Silver – Grishma Yatin Thorat (MAH) 172kg, Bronze – M A Hasina Shrin (TN) 165kh;

Youth Boys 96kg: Gold – Hariom Sharma (RAJ) 271kg, Silver – Charu Kesh S B (TN) 270kg, Bronze – Aditya (HR) 266kg;

Youth Girls 81kg: Gold – K Oviya (TN) 176kg, Silver – Anandi Vinod Sangale (MAH) 175kg, Allu Revathi (AP) 173kg;

Youth Boys 102kg: Gold – Tushar Chaudhary (UP) 289kg (meet record), Silver – R Kishore (TN) 288kg, Bronze – Chanakya Bora (ASM) 258kg.