Lather upsets Ajay to take the 81kg gold

Deepak Lather beat two-time Commonwealth championships gold medallist and fellow Services lifter Ajay Singh to claim his first gold medal in the men’s 81kg weight category in the weightlifting arena of the National Games here on Sunday.

Former National champion Lather, representing his home State Haryana, defied a knee issue to improve his performance a notch to secure the top spot with a total of 315kg.

“I am happy to get a gold medal after my National title in 2018. This is my first year in this weight and I improved one kg more than what I had done at the National championships in Bhubaneswar in March,” said Lather, who lifted 145kg in his second snatch attempt and 170kg in second clean and jerk effort.

Ajay, who trained for just two weeks, took the silver with 314kg.

In a field comprising reputed names such as current Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Harjinder Kaur, who moved to a higher weight category, and multiple CWG medallist Punam Yadav, National silver medallist R. Arokiya Alish managed to claim the women’s 76kg title with an aggregate of 206kg.

The results: Men: 81kg: 1. Deepak Lather (Har) 145kg (snatch), 170 (clean and jerk), 315 (total); 2. Ajay Singh (SSCB) 142, 172, 314; 3. Abhishek Nipane (Mah) 134, 177, 311.

Women: 64kg: 1. Jasvir Kaur (Pun) 87, 113, 200; 2. S. Pallavi (AP) 88, 111, 199kg; 3. Roshilata Devi (Man) 87, 110, 197.

76kg: 1. R.Arokiya Alish (TN) 89, 117, 206; 2. Punam Yadav (UP) 92, 113, 205; 3. Harjinder Kaur (Pun) 89, 115, 204.