By Elton Gomes
Indian weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga created history as he clinched India’s first ever gold medal at the Youth Olympics in the men’s 62kg weightlifting. Lalrinnunga won gold with a snatch of 124kg and clean & jerk of 150kg, which amounted to a total of 274 kg.
Lalrinnunga had announced that he would be lifting 120kg in Snatch and 143kg in Clean & Jerk – a total of 263kgs. However, he eventually went on to lift a cumulative weight of 274 kg.
Lalrinnunga’s gold highlights his mettle after he won a silver at the World Youth games. Earlier in 2018, Lalrinnunga claimed a silver (youth) and a bronze (junior) in the Asian Championships, while breaking two national records.
India’s performance in other events
In the Youth Olympic games in Buenos Aires, India had won three silver medals earlier with Tushar Mane (10m Air Rifle), Tababi Devi (44kg Judo), and Mehuli Ghosh (10m Air Rifle).
Weightlifter Sneha Soren, however, was unable to achieve a podium finish in the womens 48kg category and came in fifth. In swimming, Srihari Nataraj, who competed in the 100m backstroke final, finished in the sixth position.
Indias representatives in table tennis, Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar, won their singles matches in the group stage. Kamath beat Malaysias Javen Choong 4-2, and Thakkar saw off Slovakias Aleksandra Vovk 4-1.
The Indian men’s hockey team dominated their match and delivered a 9-1 thrashing to Austria. In other events, badminton player Lakshya Sen faced a tough opponent in Danylo Bosniuk in the first game, but Sen regained his composure to beat the Ukrainian 23-21, 21-8.
Shooter Tushar Mane opened India’s medal account
On Sunday, India opened its medal account in the Youth Olympic Games after shooter Tushar Mane bagged silver in the men’s 10m air rifle on the opening day of competition in Argentina.
Mane, who qualified third for the final, shot 247.5 to win the silver while Grigorii Shamakov clinched gold with 249.2. Serbias Aleksa Mitrovic came in third with a score of 227.9.
What is the Youth Olympics
The Youth Olympics are a multi-sporting event, and they are held every four years, similar to the main Olympics event. However, unlike the main event, the age criteria for Youth Olympics is 14-18 years. The event is organised by the International Olympic Committee. It has summer and winter versions held alternatively. More than 200 countries and 3,600 athletes participated in the inaugural 2010 Youth Summer Olympics.
In the current edition of the games, 21 young athletes from India participated in the qualifier rounds. India has been making its presence felt since the maiden summer Youth Olympics 2010, which was held in Singapore, in which it won 8 medals. However, the Indian contingent only managed to win two medals in the 2014 Summer Olympics in China.
The Indian team also participated in the Winter Olympics held in Norway in 2016 and Austria in 2012 but failed to start their medal tally in both editions.
Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius