P Gururaja became the second weightlifter to win a medal for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games after he bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 61kg category on Saturday.
The lifter who hails from Udupi, Karnataka lifted a total of 269kg to finish third in his weight category behind Malaysia's Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamad and Morea Baru. Earlier, weightlifter Sanket Sargar had opened India’s medal tally in Birmingham with a silver-medal finish in the 55kg section.
It was a special day for the 29-year-old Gururaja as he achieved a personal best lift of 118kg in his second attempt in the snatch category to finish fourth.
Moving onto the clean and jerk section, Gururaja once again displayed confidence and recorded a another personal best of 151kg in his last attempt to finish third-best in the round and third overall in the standings.
A silver medallist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Gururaja, was at the receiving end of a lot of wishes on social media following his bronze medal display at Birmingham.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was all praise for the Indian weightlifter.
Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur also had a few words of praise for Gururaja.
It did not stop there as India’s President Draupadi Murmu also reacted via her Twitter handle to congratulate Gururaja on his achievement.
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