KIYG 23: Maharashtra’s Megha Aher, Odisha’s Jyoshna Sabar create new marks to clinch gold in weightlifting

Chennai, Jan 26: Maharashtra weightlifted Megha Aher created a new National Youth record in Clean and Jerk to clinch the gold medal in the girls 45kg category in the 6th Khelo India Youth Games 2023 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Megha knew that she had to break the Clean and Jerk record in her final lift to have a chance of winning the gold medal after Andhra Pradesh’s R Bhavani improved on Soumya Dalvi’s earlier mark with a lift of 84 kg to take the overall lead. To her credit, the Manmad-based lifter showed no nerves in successfully executing the 85kg lift to win the gold with an aggregate of 148 kg.

Bhavani took the silver with an aggregate of 147kg while Haryana’s Payal, who led both Megha and Bhavani by four kilos after Snatch, finished third with a total of 145 kg.

Earlier, Jyoshna Sabar created a new National Youth record in Snatch in 40kg category to clinch the gold medal. Jyoshna lifted a total of 130 kgs, including 60 in Snatch and 70 kg in Clean and Jerk with her state-mate Priteesmita Bhoi coming a distant second with a total of 116kg. B Neerja of Andhra Pradesh bagged the bronze with a total of 114kg.

Table-toppers Maharashtra also clinched the 10m Air Rifle mixed team gold thanks to an impressive performance from Isha Taksale and Parth Mane to take the state’s gold medal tally to 28.

The Maharashtra combination defeated Haryana’s Disha Dhankar and Arshit Arora 16-6 in the final. West Bengal’s Abhinav Shaw and Sandrata Roy bagged the bronze medal with an identical win over C J Immanuel and Maneshika Senthil of Tamil Nadu.

The hosts, who had won eight gold medals on Thursday to come within one gold medal difference of Maharashtra, bagged a gold medal in weightlifting and a silver medal in Trap mixed team event on Friday and sit pretty in second spot with third-placed Haryana (21 gold) failing to add to their tally.

Lifter L Dhanush ended the day on a high for Tamil Nadu when he lifted a total weight of 225 kg (101 snatch and 124 C&J) to take the gold. Maharashtra’s Nikhil Koli, who took the silver, and Arunachal Pradesh’s Sosar Tama lifted a total of 212 kgs.

The lone silver for Tamil Nadu came through Nilaa Rajaa Baalu, the daughter of Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu, T R B Rajaa, and Yugan SM, who finished with a score of 125. Rajasthan’s Vinay Pratap Singh and Aishwari Choudhary took the gold with a score of 127 while Punjab’s Keshav Chauhan and Krishika Joshi took the bronze with a score of 121.

At the Major Radhakrishnan hockey stadium, Madhya Pradesh will have a chance to complete a grand double after both their teams reached the final.

In the girl’s semi-final, Madhya Pradesh defeated Odisha 3-1 while the boy’s got the better of Haryana 4-3 in the shoot-out after the match ended 2-2 in full-time.

Madhya Pradesh will face Haryana in the girls final while the boys will take on Odhisha, who hammered Jharkhand 6-1 in the other semi-finals.