Sanket Sargar opens India's account at the CWG 2022 with a silver, misses Gold by a whisker

Hopeful of a great showing at the Commonwealth Games 2022, India sent a strong contingent to the UK. The team, however, underperformed on Day 1 with the team doing poorly in Cricket, triathlon, cycling, swimming and lawn bowling. Hockey, badminton, squash and table tennis were the saving grace on the opening day. None of those events, however, brought medals to the country on day 1.

Day two, however, has come with great news for the Indian fans. Sanket Mahadev Sargar has given respite to a billion people after winning a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. With a lift of 248 kgs, Sargar finished second in the Men’s 55 kg weightlifting category.

Sargar missed the Gold medal by a mere 1kg as Mohammad Aniq of Malaysia came first with a total lift of 249 kgs. Sri Lanka’s, Dilanka Isuru Kumara lifted 225kg (105+142) to take home the bronze. With this medal, India has opened its account in this edition’s mega event.

The 21-year-old matched his national record of 113 in the snatch round and followed up with an impressive 135kg in the clean and jerk round. Sargar has bounced back from his poor showing at the 2021 World Championship to earn silver at the CWG 2022.

Weightlifting has historically been very fruitful for India

Sanket Sargar has been a three-time national champion. The weightlifter broke Commonwealth and national record in 2021 at the Singapore Weightlifting meet with a lift of 256kg in total (113+143). Sanket also won Gold at the Senior Nationals in 2022.

Another star weightlifter Mirabai Chani is also set to challenge in the 49 kg women’s category and would be looking to win India’s first Gold medal in the CWG 2022. Weightlifting has historically been very fruitful for India in Commonwealth Games. So far, India has won a total of 126 medals in weightlifting, including 43 golds, the second among all sports.

India finished third in the last edition's Commonwealth Games and would be looking to climb further up this time around. India performed the best in the 2010 edition of CWG when the country won a total of 101 medals and finished second.