New Delhi: India’s medal-winning athletes are aiming to reach higher levels in the new year after their impressive show at the December 19 to December 25 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships 2024 in Doha, said a news release by the Sports Authority of India. Overall, India won 33 medals across youth and junior categories.
The next target for the lifters is Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 qualification and national weightlifting coach and Olympian Mirabai Chanu’s mentor Vijay Sharma says the Doha performance was promising and signals “a bright future for India.”
The weightlifting competition in Qatar featured 40 categories – 20 each in youth and junior levels. Medals were awarded for snatch, clean and jerk and overall sections in each of the 40 categories.
India’s youth (13-17 years) lifters won 21 medals, including seven golds. The juniors (15-20 years) won 12 medals. Uttar Pradesh’s 16-year-old Jyoshna Sabar was among the standout performers in Doha. She created an Asian record in the women’s youth 40kg class with a combined lift of 135 kg. This reiterated Sharma’s thoughts that “India’s women had greater prospects of winning international medals.”
Khelo India’s mission to tap grassroots talent and then groom them into potential winners at the international stage got a major boost as out of the 24 men and women who represented India at Doha, 22 were Khelo India Athletes (KIA). The entire squad trained at one of the three centres at Sports Authority of India (SAI) National Centres of Excellence (NCoEs) NIS Patiala, Imphal and Aurangabad.
Alakesh Baruah, the High-Performance Manager for weightlifting at NIS Patiala, said: “Having so many youth athletes will only help in the long run. These kids hold great promise for the world junior and senior competitions.”
Baruah explained that the medals in Doha were due to a “long process (of training) and support from SAI and the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF).”
“In June, we held trials at NIS Patiala for multiple international competitions like the junior worlds, Asian championships, as well as the Asian youth and junior. This is how we selected the team, under the guidance of Dronacharya Award-winning coach (Vijay) Sharma,” added Baruah.