CWG 2022: Gururaja Poojary bronze gives India second medal, internet reacts

Gururaja Poojary, Indian weightlifter, won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the men’s 61kg category, lifting a total of 269kg. 

The 25-year-old won the nation its second medal in the ongoing edition, following Sanket Sargar’s silver in the 55kg category. 

Poojary lost out to Muhammad Aznil bin Bidin, of Malaysia, who lifted 285kg and Morea Baru of Papua New Guinea. The Olympian lifted 273kg. 

The athlete from Karnataka’s Udupi district lifted 118kg in the Snatch category, before managing to lift 151kg in the third round of the Clean and Grab category. 

Also Read | CWG 2022: How much weight Indian silver medalist Sanket Sargar lifted

Wishes began pouring in quickly, with Union Minister of Jal Shakti commenting, “Those 269 kgs on your shoulders and up have lifted the mood of the nation higher.” 

Boria Majumdar added, “Many congratulations”. The athlete initially wanted to be a wrestler but made a change to weightlifting, and had earlier said, “I wanted to be a wrestler after watching Sushil Kumar’s bronze in 2008 Olympics”.

Also Read | Commonwealth Games 2022: Sanket Sargar injury, what happened

Poojary added at the time, “My coach reminded me how much this medal means to me and I have to lift it,” he says. His total of 249kg took him to silver. “I could have done better.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded Poojary’s latest achievement, saying “Overjoyed by the accomplishment of P. Gururaja! Congratulations to him for winning the Bronze at the Commonwealth Games. He demonstrated great resilience and determination. I wish him many more milestones in his sporting journey.”

Speaking of his support system and what keeps him going, Poojary had said, “I used to stay back in college so that I never missed classes. My family would support me financially in whatever way they could”, adding, “Then Vikas Thakur won a medal at the last Commonwealth Games and I was inspired. Even I wanted to win a medal.”