Harjinder Kaur wins bronze in dramatic finish to bring India’s 7th weightlifting medal at Commonwealth Games 2022

Harjinder Kaur brought India its seventh weightlifting medal and ninth overall of the Commonwealth Games 2022.

When she clinched a bronze during an unprecedented turn of events at the women’s 71kg final. All but out of contention for a podium finish, Harjinder could not believe her luck when Nigeria’s Joy Ogbonne Eze messed up all three of her Clean & Jerk attempts, and allowed the Indian weightlifter to finish in the top three.

Harjinder’s total attempt was of 212 kg (93 in snatch and 119 in Clean & Jerk), which for the longest time, appeared not enough to win her a medal. In fact, despite lifting 119 in her final attempt, she was out of the fray when Canada’s Alexis Ashworth was successful in lifting 123kgs.

But as they say, in sports, winners are declared by the barest of margins, and that is exactly what happened with Harjinder. Joy, who needed to secure all but one lift to push the Indian away from a bronze medal finish, failed to do so, and after three failed attempts, a Harjinder ensured she returned home with a maiden CWG medal.

Harjinder’s start was not the greatest. She failed in her first attempt of 90 kgs but successfully cleared the mark in her second lift. In her final attempt, going for 93kg, Harjinder looked shaky, but recovered admirably to pull it off and jump to the second spot. However, at the end of the snatch division, she found herself at fourth behind England’s Sarah Davies, Joy and Australia’s Kiana Rose Elliott.

Harjinder needed to come up with something special in Clean & Jerk, and needing to get off to a good start, she lifted 113kg nicely. Initially Harjinder had opted for 115kg but reduced a couple of kg. In her second, she nailed a solid 116kg, putting her at the top but better lifts from Sarah and Joy once again pushed her down. In her final attempt, Harjinder lifted 119kg to take her total to 212. Ashworth needed to lift 123kg to push the Indian out of the race. Or so we thought. Harjinder’s hopes were still hanging by a thread, which due to Joy’s shocker, was enough to bring India a third medal on the fourth day.