Assam teenage weightlifter Bedabrat Bharali wins gold medal at World Youth lifting

LIMA: Assam's teenage weightlifter Bedabrat Bharali became the first Indian male lifter to win a gold medal in the World youth championships in Lima, Peru, on Friday.

Bharali finished 12kg clear of his competitors with 136-160-296, up 29kg on his total last year where he finished third in the 67kg category.

The 17-year-old with the lift of 136kg in snatch, broke his National Record of 133kg at the selection trials in Patiala on May 20.

It was the first time in the tournament’s history that a gold medal was pocketed by an Indian male weightlifter with the previous best performance dating back to 2016 when Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Muthupandi Raja won silver and bronze in the 56kg weight category, respectively.

Ryan McDonald from the United States finished second with 125-159-284 while Serhii Kotelevskyi from Ukraine was placed third on 130-153-283.

Bharali made his debut in International events in 2023 where he won three medals in total with this being the second World Championship medal fore him. He secured the bronze medal last year in 67 kg weight category, and managed to convert it to gold by changing his weight category from 67 kg to 73 kg.

His compatriot Sairaj Pardeshi, who competed in 81 kg weight category secured one bronze medal in snatch event, while finishing fourth overall.

This was India’s second gold in the competition, after Preetismita Bhoi topped the women’s 40kg, managing to set a clean and jerk youth world record in the process. Agencies.

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