CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu weightlifter N Ajith will represent the country in the Asian Games scheduled in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8 this year.
The lifter, who hails from Sathuvachari village of the Vellore district, defeated 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Achinta Sheuli and others in the 73kg trials to confirm his place in the national team.
"Ajith has qualified. The squad for the Asiad will be announced soon," Sahdev Yadav, the IWLF president, told The New Indian Express.
It is learnt that the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) had set the criteria for different weight categories to select the team for the quadrennial event. The trials were held at NIS Patiala on Friday.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu (49kg) and the 2023 Asian Championships silver medallist Bindyarani Devi (55kg) had already attained the qualification marks in their respective weight categories. The duo is currently training-cum-rehabilitating in St Louis, USA. The two lifters are on a 65-day training camp at Squat University under Dr Aaron Horschig.
"In my weight category, the qualification mark was 310kg (overall lift). I lifted 140kg in snatch before lifting 170kg in the second attempt of the clean and jerk section to qualify," Ajith told this daily from Patiala. Achinta too lifted 140kg in the snatch section but could manage only 165 in C&J.
Notably, it was Achinta who defeated Ajith in the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games last year. Ajith was confident of making it to the CWG squad after winning the 73kg gold in the national championships but the heartbreak meant he returned to his village to train at a local gym with his uncle N Baskaran. The training stint helped him as he not only defeated Achinta in the 2022 Gujarat National Games but also retained his gold in the 2023 national championships.
"In the training here at camp, I have been lifting 145kg in snatch and 175kg in C&J. As far as competitions are concerned, my best lifts in snatch and C&J are 143kg and 174kg, which came in the nationals. However, the competition will be tough at Asiad as lifters from China and Indonesia will be there. I have to improve my show by at least 10kg to 15kg in both sections if I wish to win a medal. It's difficult but given the time I have now, I can try that," Ajith added.
Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who had clinched 67kg gold in the 2022 CWG, missed the trials as he was nursing a back injury.