15-year-old weightlifter wins India’s first gold; Manu Bhaker triumphs in 10m air pistol
Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who will turn 16 on October 26, has scripted history by winning India’s first ever gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires on Monday night.
The 15-year-old from Aizwal, who is also a world youth silver-medallist, lifted a total of 274kg (124kg +150kg) to finish on top in the 62-kg category. The silver went to Turkey’s Toptas Caner, who lifted 263 kg (122kg+141kg), while Colombia’s Villar Estiven Jose took the bronze with an effort of 260 kg (115kg+143kg).
The Mizoram sensation is being touted as the next big thing in Indian weightlifting. Going by his own version, Lalrinnunga was only forced to take up weightlifting as an alternate sport after his father’s (Lalneihtlunanga) boxing academy was to shut down due to scarcity of funds.
“I took up weightlifting at the age of eight. Before that, I used to train in my father’s boxing academy,” Lalrinnunga described his journey a day before his departure for Youth Games.
“As I got impressed with weightlifting as power sport, I took up the sport then. And I remember my coach first started training me using bamboo, instead of iron rod,” added the new sensation of Indian sport.
His coach Vijay Sharma, who has been with Lalrinnunga in the national camp since 2016, is hardly surprised with his ward’s performance at the highest level. “He has always been a special talent,” said Sharma after Lalrinnunga’s gold effort. Sharma recalled his first meeting with youngster. “When I saw him for the first time to the camp, I was impressed to see his explosive strength. Because in weightlifting, your explosive strength is everything,” said Sharma, adding: “And we measure explosive strength with box jumps. Most of the senior campers were not able to match 13-year-old Jeremy box jump of nearly as high as five feet. It was as high as his forehead and that was astonishing for all of us watching him.”
Lalrinnunga got his chance to train at the Army Sports Institute in Pune in 2011. And that was his life changing experience. Prior to the Youth Olympics, he first got the international weightlifting community’s attention with his silver medal in the 56kg category at the 2016 World Youth Championships.
Lalrinnunga is already gearing up for the future. He is eyeing the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. “I am returning to Patiala in October 21st. I have to train hard now for the Tokyo Olympics. I am going to change my body weight category to 67kg for the Olympics so I have to work harder,” Lalrinnunga said.
Archana In Last 8
In table tennis, world No. 6 Archana Girish Kamath qualified for the women’s singles quarterfinals with a 4-2 (14-12 14-12 9-11 8-11 12-10 15-13) win over Ka Yee Lee of Hong Kong.
In badminton, teen sensation Lakshya Sen had it tough against Danylo Bosniuk in the first game before he regained his composure to beat the Ukrainian 23-21, 21-8
Hockey Team On Song
The Indian men’s hockey 5s team registered its third consecutive win here by beating Kenya 7-1 in a Pool B match on Tuesday. Sudeep Chirmako (5th, 10th minutes) and Rabichandra Moirangthem (5th,11th) struck twice each while skipper Vivek Sagar Prasad (8th), Sanjay (14th) and Rahul Kumar Rajbhar (17th) also scored in the convincing victory. Kenya’s only goal came in the 7th minute through Olanda Ouma.
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