Sanket Sargar wins silver at CWG: Sehwag, Shami, others shower praises; 'proud of you'

Sanket Sargar has made the country proud by winning the first medal for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The 21-year-old weightlifter from Maharashtra won a silver medal in the men's 55kg category on Saturday to open the country's account at the Birmingham Games. The athlete won the medal after lifting a combined weight of 248kg (113kg in snatch, and 135kg in clean & jerk).

Sanket started the snatch event by lifting 107kg in his first attempt. The weighlifter bettered his attempt by 4kgs as he lifted 111kg in his second chance. His best performance in the snatch event came in his third attempt after he lifted 113kg to move to the top of the leaderboard.

Sanket lifted 135kg in his first clean & jerk attempt, which later turned out to be his only legitimate attempt in the category. He had lifted 139kg in his second and third attempts but both were declared fouls by the judges. 

The sports fraternity has turned to social media to laud the medallist for his incredible accomplishment at CWG 2022. Former India cricketers Virender Sehwag and Robin Uthappa are among the people from the sports fraternity who have heaped praise on Sanket Sargar. Indian pacer Mohammed Shami also congratulated Sanket for winning a silver medal in the competition. Former India Hockey team captain Viren Rasquinha also lauded the weightlifter on Twitter. 

Here's a compilation of tweets lauding Sanket for winning a silver medal for India. 

Men's 55kg Final

Malaysia's Aniq Mohamad won the gold medal in the event as he lifted a total weight of 249kg (107kg in snatch, 142 in clean & jerk). Dilanka Isuru Kumara of Sri Lanka won the bronze medal as he lifted a combined weight of 225kg (105kg in snatch and 120kg in clean & jerk). Sanket was looking good to win the gold medal in the event but an unfortunate injury prevented him from giving his best in the clean & jerk round.