Bindyarani Devi wins maiden Commonwealth Games medal with record-breaking lift, clinches silver in 55kg weightlifting
Bindyarani Devi brought India its fourth medal of the day, continuing the country’s love affair with weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games 2022 as she clinched silver in the women’s 55kg final.
A few hours after champion Mirabai Chanu won the first gold medal for India at CWG 2022, to go with a silver from Sanket Sargar and a bronze-medal finish from Gururaja Poojary, Bindyarani joined the list by lifting an admirable 202kg (86kg in snatch and 116kg in Clean & Jerk).
With her impressive lift of 116kg, Bindyarani not only won her maiden CWG medal but also managed a personal best, national record and Commonwealth Games record in Clean & Jerk. Adijat Adenike Olarinoye of Nigeria took gold with 203 kg (92 + 111), while Fraer Morrow of England finished with 198kg to win bronze.
When most of India had gone to sleep, Bindyarani began her quest for a CWG medal with a crisp lift of 81kg in her first attempt and bettered it win 84kg and 86kg in her second and third attempts. At the end of the snatch series, Bindyarani was third behind Adijat and Morro, who had lifted 92kg and 89 kg respectively.
When it was time for the Clean & Jerk series, for the longest time, Bindyarani looked set for a bronze before the final two dramatic attempts of the event unfolded. Fraer Morrow of England, who was certain for the silver, wanted to go for gold, and thus added and audacious 6kg extra in her final lift.
She fumbled and it gave Bindyarani the perfect opportunity to make it count. The 23-year-old needed to lift 116kg to finish second, and that’s exactly what she did. Adding 6kg to the barbell for the final attempt, Bindyadevi nailed it perfectly to secure a silver.
Bindyarani, who had earlier won medals at various weightlifting events, now has a CWG medal to show for her efforts. Previously, Bindyarani had won a gold medal in the Clean & Jerk event of the World Weightlifting Championships in 2021.
She also managed to lift 84kg in snatch for a total of 198kg to stand fourth on the overall leaderboard. Her other accomplishments include winning a gold and a silver at the 2019 and 2021 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships.