The Indian weightlifters continued their dominance at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 with a third gold won by 20-year-old Achinta Sheuli after he lifted a record weight in the men’s 73kg category on Monday (August 1) morning. Achinta, who hails from West Bengal, was much better than most of his competitors on the day as he lifted 313kgs, 10 kilos clear of the silver medallist from Malaysia, Erry Hidayat.
After winning his medal, the weightlifter caught up with Sports Tak for an exclusive interview, where Achinta revealed that his main aim was to improve on his own records, “The idea was to give my best performance. My only fight was with the Malaysian athlete and I wanted to give my best shot to improve my own records."
Sheuli, who is also a junior world championship silver medallist, executed three clean lifts — 137kg, 140kg, and 143kg — in the snatch section. His 143kg effort helped him smash the Games record and improve on his own personal best as well.
Heading into the Clean and Jerk with a five-kilogram advantage, the Kolkata lifter started with a 166kg lift, which he lifted easily. He then picked up 170 kg attempt in the third attempt and create a new Games record for total lift (313kg).
Sheuli revealed that he blacked out on his second attempt in the Clean and Jerk category, and said that he did not have much clue about anything momentarily. “I got a little blacked out in the second clean and jerk attempt but I managed it in the third attempt,” said the weightlifter who now has a big weight off his back.
While the Indian weightlifters have done exceedingly well this year, the 20-year-old was quick to share his praise for the coaching staff, especially Vijay Sharma. "Vijay sir (coach) is very hard working. The days that I am bad in training, he helps me improve a lot, every single one in India is improving because of him. The opponents are not even close to us in the Commonwealth Games,” the gold medal-winner concluded.
