Staff Reporter
RONO HILLS, 30 Dec: Arunachal Pradesh won seven medals, including one gold, one silver and five bronze, on the second day of the IWLF National Senior, Junior and Youth Weightlifting Championships at Rajiv Gandhi University here on Saturday.
Shankar Lapung won the gold medal in the senior men’s 61 kg interstate division. He lifted 121 kgs in snatch and 150 kgs in clean & jerk, for a total of 271 kgs. Lapung also won the overall bronze medal in the men’s senior 61 kg category.
The silver medal in the interstate division was won by another lifter from the state, Charu Pesi. He lifted 117 kgs in snatch and 148 kgs in clean & jerk, for a total of 265 kgs.
The bronze medal in this category (interstate) was won by Assam’s Siddhartha Gogoi, with a total lift of 261 kgs.
Sosar Tama won a bronze medal each in the youth and junior boys’ 55 kg bodyweight category. Tama lifted 93 kgs in snatch and 120 kgs in clean & jerk in both youth and junior categories.
Tagrik Naya won the bronze medal in the junior women’s 45 kg category. She lifted a total of 128 kgs (snatch 56 kgs; clean & jerk 72 kgs).
Chera Tania won the fifth bronze medal in the junior men’s 61 kg category. Tania lifted 102 kgs in snatch and 139 kgs in clean & jerk.
Over 900 lifters and 200 officials from all the states and union territories, including Services, the All India Police Sports Control Board, the Railway Sports Control Board, and the Food Corporation of India are participating in the championships.
Arunachal has fielded a total of 41 athletes, including ace lifters Sambo Lapung, Kojum Taba, Markio Tario, and Soram Hitler Tagru, in the championships, which will conclude on 8 January.
This is the second time that Arunachal is hosting a national weightlifting championship. It had hosted the national senior weightlifting championships in 2011.
Meanwhile, competition director Subramanya Kumbasi, who is also the chairman of the technical committee of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, told this reporter that the future of weightlifting in Arunachal is bright, adding that “many lifters from the state have already represented the country in various international events.”
