BHUBANESWAR 27-Dec-2011 537
Woman weightlifters made Odisha proud again by winning eight gold and one silver in the 64th Men & 27th Women Senior National Weightlifting Championship, which was held at Berhampur from December 24 to 29, 2011. Tikina Gopal and Minati Sethi bagged three gold each, while Seeta Jena secured two gold and one silver in the championship, which was hosted by Odisha Weightlifting Association (OWA) in association of the State Sports Department.
Tikina bagged the first gold medal for host Odisha in women`s 53kg weight class, lifting 77kg in snatch and 95kg in clean and jerk for a total of 172kg. This was an emotional home-coming for Tikina, who started her career as teenager at the State Government-run Gold-Digging Sports Hostel in Bbhubaneswar 15 years ago before becoming an international. Now married and having a baby girl, Tikina has been honing her skill in Delhi as an employee of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
Minati Sethi, Odisha`s another international women lifter, also secured a gold in the 58kg category, lifting 81kg in snatch, 107kg in clean and jerk for a total of 188kg. But the gold went to the Railways, where Minati joined recently.
Seeta Jena claimed the two gold medals in clean and jerk and overall sections, lifting 105kg and 181kg respectively. She, however, settled with silver in the snatch, lifting 76kg. Rajwant Kaur of Punjab took the gold in snatch (79kg), but contended herself with silver in clean and jerk (102kg) and total (181kg).
Services lifter M Syamlal set the only National record of the championship in men`s 94kg weight class. He also won three gold medals and was adjudged the best lifter of the championship. Syamlal rewrote the National record in clean and jerk, lifting 188kg and bettering the previous record of 187kg.
Around 285 lifters, including 100 women from 29 affiliated states and institutional units of Weightlifting Federation of India. The championship was staged for the first time in the Silk City (Berhampur) and second time in Odisha.
