Earlier in the day, Rishikanta Singh Chanambam claimed a silver medal in the men’s 60kg weightlifting event, which was India’s second medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He lifted a Games record of 121 kg in the snatch event, and then added 143kg in clean and jerk to heave a total weight of 264 kg. After three largely tepid days in Glasgow, the Indian contingent’s quest to start racking up medals started in earnest with the weightlifters entering the fray today. The redoubtable Mirabai Chanu will lead India’s lifters into action on Sunday.
At the start of Sunday, India had won just the one medal at the Glasgow Games, thanks to Jhandu Kumar’s bronze medal in para powerlifting. Meanwhile, Lovlina Borgohain is also assured a medal at the Glasgow Games after the luck of the draw gave her a bye into the semi-finals.
Scroll down to read all the updates from the fourth day of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
Once they mocked his name, now Jhandu Kumar is a Commonwealth Games medallist
Jhandu Kumar, the 29-year-old, who has sold vegetables and driven e-rickshaws to fund his training, won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games. (PTI and Special Arrangement)
“What’s in a name?” they say. Ask Jhandu Kumar, who won India’s first medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The para powerlifter, who contracted polio when he was four years old, lifted 190kg to win a bronze medal on Friday – a feat he hopes will define him, rather than his name.
Hailing from Harnaut village in Bihar’s Nalanda district, Jhandu’s name loosely translates to ‘incompetent person’ in Hindi. However, the 29-year-old, who has sold vegetables and driven e-rickshaws to fund his training, has defied every possible meaning attached to it. “Naam me kya rakha hai (What’s in a name)? I embraced this name the moment I realised that identity comes from what you do, not what you are called,” Jhandu told The Indian Express from Glasgow after winning his medal. “People used to laugh at my name. Today, it was announced from the podium with the Indian flag around me. I can’t think of a better moment in my life.”
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