India’s Gyaneshwari Yadav won the silver medal and compatriot V Rithika won bronze in the women’s 49kg category at the IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships in Heraklion, Greece, on Monday.
Chattisgarh’s Gyaneshwari produced a total effort of 156kg (73kg+83kg) to take home the silver medal, while 18-year-old Rithika heaved 150kg (69kg+81kg) to take bronze in a 10-lifter field.
The podium finishes took India’s medal haul to three in the ongoing event. Earlier on Monday, Harshada Sharad Garud became the country’s first weightlifter to win a gold medal at the junior world event.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Windy Cantika Aisah was crowned the champion in the 49kg category thanks to her total effort of 185kg (83kg+102kg). The Indonesian, who won the Asian and world junior titles last year, lifted 29kg more than Gyaneshwari and even declined to take her final attempt.
The field was missing lifters from powerhouses China, North Korea and Thailand.
The junior world record for the category sits at 206kg (92kg+114kg) in China’s Jiang Huihua’s name. It is the same weight division in which Mirabai Chanu won a silver at the Tokyo Olympics, with an effort off 202kg (87kg+115kg). Chanu holds the senior clean and jerk world record in the category. She had lifted 119kg at the Asian Championships last year to achieve the feat. The snatch (96kg) and total weight lifted (213kg) records are in Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Hou Zhihui’s name.
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