"Great Resilience And Determination": PM Modi Lauds Gururaja Poojary For Commonwealth Games 2022 Bronze

Weightlifter Gururaja Poojary won India's second medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham as he brought home bronze in the men's 61kg category on Saturday. Poojary lifted a total of 269 kg to win the bronze. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to congratulate the 29-year-old. "Overjoyed by the accomplishment of P. Gururaja! Congratulations to him for winning the Bronze at the Commonwealth Games," PM Modi tweeted. "He demonstrated great resilience and determination. I wish him many more milestones in his sporting journey."

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. pic.twitter.com/i04Fv2owtW

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 30, 2022

Gururaja won the bronze by lifting just 1 kg more than Canada's Youri Simard.

The diminutive Indian lifted a total of 118kg in snatch and 151kg in clean and jerk to ensure a medal for himself and the country.

It was in clean and jerk that Gururaja and Canada's Simard went face-to-face in an all out attempt to seal the bronze medal position. Simard lifted 149kg in his last attempt to get ahead of the Indian but Gururaja gave it his all to lift 151 and sealed the medal.

Malaysia's Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamad grabbed the gold medal with a Games record lift of 285kg (127+158). Morea Baru of Papua New Guinea bagged the silver with a total lift of 273kg (121+152.

Earlier, fellow weightlifter Sanket Sargar opened India's medal tally at the Games by winning silver in the men's 55kg category.