Asian Championships: Jeremy wins silver in snatch but fails to complete his event

Jeremy Lalrinnunga won a silver in snatch but could not register an overall total as he failed to lift the weight in any of his three clean

Jinju (Korea): Indian weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga won a silver in snatch but could not register an overall total as he failed to lift the weight in any of his three clean and jerk attempts in a disappointing show at the Asian Championships here on Sunday.

Competing in his first tournament since winning the gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jeremy was the only one in the 12-lifter field who did not finish (DNF) his event.

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The 20-year-old, however, won a silver medal in the snatch event with a personal best-equalling lift of 141kg in the non-Olympic 67kg weight class.

Jeremy failed to lift 165kg in his first two clean and jerk attempts. He then increased the weight to 168kg, which would have been 2kg more than his personal best and also a national record, but the reigning Youth Olympic champion faltered again.

In fact, out of six attempts — three each in snatch and clean and jerk — Jeremy could lift the barbell only twice.

“I don’t know what happened today. It was just bad luck,” Jeremy told PTI.

“After two failed attempts in clean and jerk, I went for the national record. I have lifted 168kg several times in training but today it was just not my day,” he added.

The Mizo lifter, who is returning from a thigh injury that saw him miss last year’s World Championship, looked rusty from the beginning.

He got off to a bad start, faltering in his opening snatch attempt of 137kg as his right knee gave away. However, he was able to lift the same weight comfortably in his next try.

Jeremy then bettered the snatch mark with a successful 141kg attempt to register the second-highest lift in the section before things went downhill for him.

At the medal ceremony, as the lifter stood on the podium, one could see the disappointment on the Indian’s face.

China’s He Yueji 320kg (147kg+173kg) finished with the gold, while local favourite Lee Sangyeon 314kg (139kg+175kg) and Uzbek lifter Ergashev Adkhamjon 312kg (138kg+174kg) took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.

On Saturday, Bindyarani Devi had opened India’s medal count by winning silver in the women’s 55kg event.