Sandhu braves injury, sets record
Punjab youngster latest in the list of champion lifters from Bara Pind village
PUNE: For Tejpal Singh Sandhu, taking to weightlifting was almost part of destiny. Not only did his family have a line of weightlifters, but every household in the 20-year old’s village in Punjab has someone or the other connected to the sport.
With a legacy this strong, failing is hardly an option. Not even with an injury. And Sandhu being a proud resident of village Bara Pind near Jalandhar, did not fail the many who came to see his performance from Punjab. He lifted a total of 305kg in the U-21 109+kg, including a snatch national record of 145kg, to win the gold at the Khelo India Youth Games on Tuesday.
Sandhu lifted the record weight with ligament pull in his left hand. During his first snatch attempt of 140kg, he felt a pain in his left hand. He did not give up and came back to lift 145kg in his second attempt. His discomfort was evident but he increased the weight by four kg in his third attempt. He failed.
In clean and jerk, Sandhu took only one attempt of 160kg and it was enough for him to seal the gold medal. Chandigarh’s Gagandeep Singh (285kg) and Uttar Pradesh’s Vivek (284kg) won the silver and bronze respectively.
“Injury is not new to me. I missed two years of action in 2015 and 2016 due to a shoulder injury. I took up lifting in the memory of my late father Parminder Singh Sandhu who was also a weightlifter and I can’t be deterred by such small injuries. Doctor has said this is a ligament pull and I won’t miss any action,” Sandhu said. “I have senior national trials in February in Visakhapatnam and that is my next target.”
Sandhu is not the only lifter from Bara Pind to win a gold at the Khelo India Games. His village neighbour Nikhil Tugnait won the gold in U-21 89 kg.
“Every household in our village has a weightlifter. We have an Olympian too — Sandeep Kumar (Nikhil’s father). The facilities are not that great as most equipments are old but there is no dearth of motivation,” said Sandhu, who claimed a bronze at the claimed a bronze at the 2017 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship.
Sandhu wasn’t the only lifter to set a new national record on Tuesday. Maharashtra’s Snehal Bhongale lifted a record total of 160kg in U-21 women’s 87kg to win gold while her statemate Ashwini Malage lifted a record 184kg to win gold in women’s 87+kg.
In the U-21 boys 109kg category, Tamil Nadu’s B Mukesh clinched the gold with a total lift of 261kg.
Country Maharashtra Delhi Haryana Karnataka Tamil Nadu
G Gold
G64 47 37 28 22
S Silver
ESHA STARS
S B Total 51 31 35 26 31 62 43 38 18 18 177 121 110 72 71
B Bronze In the U-17 girls 10m air pistol, all three medals went to London Olympic bronze medallist Gagan Narang’s wards: Telangana’s Esha Singh (gold, 241.3 points), Maharashtra’s Anushka Ravindra Patil (silver, 234.7 points) and Sharvari Bhoir
213.6 points).
“We are trying our best to provide good facilities to shooters. It is Important is to support these young talents. It is impressive that they have no fear of performance. But once they started getting medals it is important to handle their success,” added Narang.
(bronze,
MAHARASHTRA SHINE
Maharashtra also claimed a gold in the U-21 10m air pistol with Harshada Nithave (236.3 points) topping the table. In the U-21 boys 50m rifle 3 positions, Punhab’s Sartaj Singh (447.2 points) edged past Madhya Pradesh’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (447.1 points) to claim the gold.
The swimming event ended on Tuesday with Delhi winning four gold medals on the final day. Delhi also ended as the team champion in U-17 with 242 points while Maharashtra won the U-21 category with 19 points.
ODISHA TRIUMPHS
MUMBAI:IN the U-21 men’s hockey final, Odisha defeated Haryana 4-2 in the penalty shootout. The scores were tied at 2-2 after the end of regulation time.
In the bronze medal match, Punjab registered a 2-0 victory in the penalty shootout against Uttar Pradesh. The teams were tied 1-1 after four quarters.