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Updated July 30th, 2022 at 22:54 IST

Gururaja Poojary on bronze medal at CWG 2022: 'It was my dream to see tricolour fly high'

Gururaja Poojary helped India make great strides on Day 2 of the Commonwealth Games as he won the second medal for the country in the competition.

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
CWG 2022, Gururaja Poojary, weightlifting, India CWG medals, Deepa Malik on Gururaja Poojary, Commonwealth Games 2022, Birmingham Games
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Gururaja Poojary helped India make great strides on Day 2 of the ongoing Commonwealth Games as he won the second medal for the country in the competition. The weightlifter won a bronze medal in the Men's 61kg Final on Saturday. This is the athlete's second Commonwealth Games medal as he had won a silver medal in the 2018 edition of the multi-nation event. Gururaja has now reacted to the win, saying that it was his dream to see the tricolour flying high.  

"I can't describe it in words. The Tricolour was flying high, it was my dream," Gururaja said after his medal-winning performance at CWG 2022. He also said, "I'm elated. It's a good day, Sanket won silver & I won bronze - the 2nd medal for India. I could have done better. I had fallen ill recently but I recovered & gave my best. I dedicate my medal to my wife & thank all my supporters."

Paralympian Deepa Malik, while speaking to Republic TV, heaped praise on Gururaja for his incredible performance at the CWG 2022. Malik lauded the bronze medallist and said that it's very nice to see two medals come on a single day. She further stated that India is still hungry for gold, but Gururaja's bronze is equally special. Earlier in the day, Sanket Sargar of Maharashtra won India's first medal at CWG 2022. He won a silver medal in the Men's 55kg Final of weightlifting event. 

"When everybody was talking about only one medal and suddenly we have two medals now so it's very nice. Of course, we are still hungry for gold but this bronze is also special. I think if you take Gururaja's back story, the medal in Goldcoast and again he won another consecutive medal. Look at Gururaja's story. He had just got married and within a month of his marriage, he was back in the camp, struggling to get that medal. This is the sacrifice," Deepak told Republic TV. 

Men's 61kg Final

Gururaja started the event by lifting 115kg in his first snatch attempt. He lifted 118kg in his second attempt, which was eventually counted as his final attempt since he fouled in his third try. His 118kg attempt put him in third place on the leaderboard. Gururaja lifted 144kg in his first clean & jerk attempt. He bettered his numbers by lifting 148kg and 151kg in his second and third C&J attempts, respectively. Gururaja lifted a combined weight of 269kg. 

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamad won the gold medal as he lifted a total weight of 285kg (127kg in snatch, 158kg in clean & jerk). He also made a new games record with his incredible total. Papua New Guinea's Morea Baru won the silver medal as he lifted a total weight of 273kg (121kg in snatch, 152kg in clean & jerk).

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Published July 30th, 2022 at 19:54 IST

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