Weightlifter Vikas completes hat-trick of CWG medals
CHENNAI: Weightlifter Vikas Thakur needs no introduction as he has won a bagful of medals for the country. He has tasted success at every platform over the years but the lifter seems to have a special liking for the Commonwealth Games. In 2014 with the 85kg silver in Glasgow, Vikas became the first Indian to win a medal in higher weight categories at the event. He followed it up with 94kg bronze in the next edition at Gold Coast.
Pressure must be on him when he took the platform at NEC Hall 1 on Tuesday but the 28-year-old Vikas staved off stiff challenges from Fiji, Cyprus and England lifters to clinch a silver medal in 96kg. With it, he also completed a hat-trick of medals at the quadrennial event.
Vikas lifted a total of 346kg (155kg+191kg) to finish behind Samoa's Don Opeloge, who registered an overall lift of a whopping 381kg (171kg+210kg) smashing all three Games records in the process. Fiji's Taniela Tuisuva Rainibogi walked away with the bronze with a total effort of 343kg (155kg+188kg).
It was Vikas's father, Brij Lal Thakur, an Indian Railways employee, who initiated him into the sport. Brij Lal always wanted him to pursue individual sports and boxing was his priority but destiny has something else in store. "I could not find a good boxing club in Ludhiana, Punjab so got him enrolled at a local weightlifting club when he was seven or eight," the father told this daily.
The choice of the sport, however, raised quite a few eyebrows with relatives questioning the decision. "Relatives had problems with Vikas pursuing weightlifting and not any other sports. They even asked me why I don't want him to become an engineer or a doctor. However, once he started winning medals, all those talks faded away," he added.
The father also shared an interesting story from Vikas's childhood when he started off his career. "One day a cop, who too was training at the same club, asked Vikas not to come to the club. He probably thought lifting heavy weights would affect the child's growth. My colleague Parvesh Chandra Sharma, a former India international, under whose wings Vikas was training, sorted out the issue. Interestingly, the same cop distributed 10kg ghee when my son won his first medal."
Earlier, Vikas was placed joint third with the Fiji lifter with the best lift of 155kg in the snatch section. Samoan Opeloge was way ahead of other lifters with the best lift of 171kg while local favourite Cyrille Tchatchet II was second with the lift of 158kg. The Englishman, however, couldn't register a single valid lift in the clean and jerk section to make an exit. Vikas opened a 2kg gap against his Fijian rival in the first clean and jerk attempt by lifting 187kg. In the next attempt, he increased the gap to 3kg to confirm the medal.
Heartbreak for Punam
Punam Yadav with two medals (bronze in 2014 and gold in 2018) was favourite to finish on the podium this time around. However, despite being placed second in the 76kg competition after the snatch section, she went out of medal contention after failing to complete a single successful lift in the clean and jerk section.Punam's first two attempts were fouled by the officials as she bent her elbow while lifting. It is learnt that she though successfully lifted 116kg in her third attempt but dropped the bar even before the buzzer was sounded for the successful lift.