New Delhi. India’s Sudhir scripted history by winning a gold medal in the men’s heavyweight final of the Commonwealth Games Para Powerlifting event with a record-breaking performance. Sudhir is the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the Para Powerlifting event of the Commonwealth Games.

He won the gold medal in his second attempt by lifting 212 kg with a record score of 134.5. Sudhir, however, failed to lift 217 kg in his last attempt. Nigeria’s Ikechukwu Christian Ubichukwu took the silver with 133.6 while Mickey Yule of Scotland won the bronze with 130.9. Christian lifted 197 kg while Yule lifted 192 kg. Earlier, Manpreet Kaur and Sakina Khatoon missed out on a medal in the women’s lightweight final by finishing fourth and fifth respectively, while in the men’s lightweight final, Paramjeet Kumar finished last after failing all three attempts.

Manpreet lifted 87 kg in her first attempt and 88 kg in her second attempt but failed to lift 90 kg in her third attempt. Manpreet got 89.6 marks.

Sakina, on the other hand, failed to lift 90 kg in the first attempt but lifted it in the second attempt. His third attempt of 93kg failed. He got 87.5 marks.

Jo Newson of England won the gold medal with a best effort of 101kg scoring 102.2 points. Her compatriot Olivia Broome won the silver medal with a best effort of 111kg, scoring 100 points.
Helen Wavira Kariyuki of Kenya won the bronze medal with a best effort of 97kg with a score of 98.5.

In the men’s lightweight final, Paramjeet failed to lift 165kg in any of his three attempts and was eliminated from the competition. Malaysia’s Boney Bunyau Gustin lifted 220kg in his third attempt to win the Commonwealth Games gold with a record score of 154.6. England’s Mark Swann took the silver with a score of 145.5 while Innocent Namdi of Nigeria won the bronze with a score of 132.5. Swann and Namdi put in their best efforts of 202kg and 190kg respectively.

Weight lifting in powerlifting gives points according to body weight and technique. For lifting the same weight, the physically underweight player will get more points than the other.