Khelo India Games: City lifter Veerjeet wins gold

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Chandigarh, January 17

Chandigarh’s Veerjeet Kaur lifted a total of 143kg to top the podium in the women’s 49kg competition and add a third gold medal to the city’s tally in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games at Guwahati today.

The 20-year-old, who had won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the Khelo India Youth Games at Pune last year, lifted 64kg in the snatch event and added another 81kg in the clean & jerk event to pip Assam’s Gitashree Sonowal (142kg) in a close contest. Konjengbam Nomita Devi of Manipur bagged the bronze with a total lift of 142kg.

Konjengbam Nomita Devi of Manipur bagged the bronze with a total lift of 142kg.

“She is a gritty girl. Veerjeet had an injured thigh, but she still managed to win the gold,” revelaed her coach Karanbir Singh Butter.

“The first thing we did after reaching here (Guwahati) was to look for a physiotherapist who could get her ready for the competition. She was aiming for gold and I am glad she pulled it off,” said Butter.

“Her personal best is 160kg (70kg in snatch and 90kg in clean & jerk). I am sure in the coming days she will be back at her best,” the coach added.

A student of Mata Ganga Khalsa College for Girls, Kottan, Ludhiana, Veerjeet had won the silver medal in the 31st Junior National Weightlifting Championship at Nagpur in 2019. She lifted a total of 155kg (67kg + 88kg) to occupy the second spot.

After moving to Chandigarh from her native village of Rori in Sirsa in 2016, Veerjeet honed her skills under Butter at the Sector 42 Sports Complex and rose through the ranks within a short span of time.

Veerjeet dominated Chandigarh’s junior championship in 2016 and defended her title the next year to get immediate recognition.

With today’s gold, Chandigarh are now placed 20th in the medal tally with a total of seven medals — three gold, one silver and three bronze.

Maharashtra continue to dominate the table with 150 medals, including 42 gold, while Haryana, with 36 gold and an overall tally of 111 medals, are placed second.

City girls bow to Mizoram

It was not a great day for the city girls on the hockey field, though, as they lost 1-0 to Mizoram.

Lalrinpuii scored the lone goal of the match in the third minute and despite some decent attempts by the Chandigarh forward line, the side failed to score the equaliser in the remaining time.

Chandigarh also had a mixed day in the lawn bowl competition, with the boys’ U-21 team beating West Bengal 14-10 before succumbing to Jharkhand in its second match of the day.

In boxing, Chandigarh’s Ritu registered a unanimous 5-0 win over Sapna Bisht of Uttarakhand in the 57kg class.