Weightlifting has seen a boom in India since Saikhom Mirabai Chanu claimed a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. While the country has a rich tradition of top weightlifters winning medals across events, Chanu’s heroics at the Olympics and Commonwealth Games have seen many young lifters coming to the fore. But there are others, who have been on the national scene for years but are looking to break into the limelight at Commonwealth Games 2022.

India has brought out several young weightlifters since Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia. Some of them have won medals, whereas the rest, like Gurdeep Singh, are waiting for their chance to put their hands on laurels and increase the country’s tally in Birmingham. Gurdeep, who was a part of the Indian contingent in the 2018 edition, finished fourth in his event but will look to grab a medal in this edition. Despite being a consistent performer on the national stages, he is yet to be known widely by the sporting community of the country. Let’s find out more about him.

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Born on October 1, 1995, in a town named Khanna in Ludhiana, Punjab to a farming family, Gurdeep began weightlifting because his father wanted him to become more active. He started weightlifting training in 2010, when his father, who works as a farmer, pushed him to start the training.

Gurdeep soon picked up the attention of his first coach in Khanna, who later recommended Indian team head coach Vijay Sharma, to give him a chance at the National camp. The youngster joined the National camp in 2015, where he began training in the Heavyweight category (109+kg).

Gurdeep began participating in several national-level competitions at that time. In 2018, he broke the national record in the 105+kg category at the National Weightlifting Championships, winning the gold medal in the process.

His consistent performance under the tutelage of Sharma helped him to book a spot on the Indian Commonwealth Games 2018 contingent. However, he finished at the fourth spot, unfortunately, but being a 22-year-old, it was still highly impressive for him.

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Since his 2018 debut at the CWG, Gurpreet has worked hard to finally clinch a medal at the 2022 edition. He broke three national records at the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in 2021, which was organised in Anaheim, USA. His performance was such that it received praise from Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) secretary General Sahdev Yadav.

He also won the bronze medal at the 2021 Commonwealth Senior Championship, in his preparation for the CWG 2022.