Mizoram weightlifting champion Jeremy Lalrinnunga made history by clinching India’s first ever gold medal in the history of the Youth Olympics, in the men’s 62 kg category, in Buenos Aries, Argentina. Prior to this, India performed spectacularly at the 2014 Youth Olympics in China.
The 15-year-old managed to successfully lift a total of 274 kg, with 124 kg in snatch, and 120 kg and 150 kg in clean and jerk. Turkey’s Toptas Caner won the silver medal for a combined lift of 263kg and Estiven Jose Manjarres of Colombia won the bronze medal with 260kg.
Earlier, Lalrinnunga bagged a silver and a bronze at the Asian Champions, thus breaking two records for India. This golden win makes it India’s best performance at the Youth Olympics till date.
India is being represented by 47 athletes in its biggest ever contingent so far. Weightlifter Sneha Soren finished 5th in the women’s 48 kg category. Srihari Nataraj managed the sixth position in the 100 m backstroke final despite being a reserve. Table tennis players Archana Kamath and Manav Thakkar won singles matches of the group stage. Lakshya Sen beat Ukraine’s Danylo Bosnuik in a tough match that ended in a 23-21, 21-8 win for Sen. The Indian hockey team also triumphed over Austria 9-1.
A number of congratulatory messages poured in for Lalrinnunga. Lok Sabha MP Naveen Jindal tweeted, “Heartiest congratulations to our young Jeremy Lalrinnunga on winning India’s first-ever gold medal🥇at the #YouthOlympics .” MP Rajyavardhan Rathore wrote, Historic GOLD for Jeremy! In a superb show of strength by our 115-year-old weightlifter, Jeremy Lalrinnunga wins a GOLD Medal in the Men’s 62 kg category at @buenosaires2018. CONGRATS young man, on India’s 1st EVER Gold at #YouthOlympics.”
