National Weightlifting: Muthupandi won gold with national record, did wonders by defeating Guru Raja

Mutthupandi Raja of Railways created a new national record in the National Weightlifting Championship and won the gold medal in 61 weight category. He defeated Services guru Raja Pujari, who won medals (silver and bronze) twice in the Commonwealth Games, in a close contest. M Raja lifted a total weight of 279 kg, which is a national record. He broke the record of 272 kg set by Shubham in this weight category. Guru Raja lifted 273 kg weight.

Raja will win in 2019 and 2022 also
In the 61 weight category, there was once again a contest between defending champion M Raja and Guru Raja. M Raja lifted 121 kg in snatch and 158 kg in clean and jerk. He also set a national record in clean and jerk. M Raja, who finished fourth at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, had won the gold in the 2019 and 2022 national championships by defeating Guru Raja. Guru Raja lifted 121 kg in snatch and 152 kg in clean and jerk. Shankar Lapung of Arunachal Pradesh won bronze by lifting 271 kg (121+150).

Tamil Nadu gets gold in junior category
In the junior category of this weight category, S. Muthiyamanian (255) of Tamil Nadu won the gold medal, Rudreshwar (252) of the same state won the silver medal, Chera Tania (241) of Arunachal won the bronze medal. In the youth category of the same weight, Anush Lokhande (233) of Maharashtra, Sadanand Bariha (233) of Odisha won silver and Sumit Rajput (233) of Madhya Pradesh won bronze.

Deepali won gold in 45 weight category
In the women’s 45 weight category, Deepali Gursale of Railways won gold by lifting 160 kg. She defeated Chandrika Tarafdar (158) of Bengal, who won a medal at the World Youth Weightlifting in 2012. Chandrika won gold in the interstate category.