‘Would like to dedicate medal to my wife’: Gururaja Poojary reacts after winning bronze at CWG 2022

Gururaja Poojary has dedicated his bronze medal victory at Commonwealth Games 2022 to his wife. Poojary ensured India’s second medal at the ongoing CWG 2022 in Birmingham with a total lift was 269 KG (118 S + 151 C&J). 

The 29-year-old weightlifter spoke exclusively to Kiran Chopra of Zee News and stated that he was delighted after winning the bronze medal. 

Poojary said, “I’m very happy, it was a good day, delighted with my performance.”

When further quizzed about who he’d like to dedicate his medal to, Gururaja stated that he was very thankful to his wife, who has been supporting him all this while. 

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“I would like to dedicate this medal to my wife, not long after we got married, I had to live away from her for nearly 23 months. I worked incredibly hard and feels good to win another medal after having won silver the last time,” he said. 

Poojary lifted 118 kg in the snatch round and he would go on to better his own personal best, by lifting a whopping 151kg in the clean and jerk round. However, Malaysia’s Aznil Muhamad dominated the category with a massive 285kg lift to clinch the gold medal. 

Poojary made it two wins from two for India as both the Indian weightlifters clinched a medal a piece in the Men’s category, with the Women’s competition scheduled for later in the day. 

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Gururaja Poojary ranked fourth after the snatch round. He lifted 115kg in his first attempt and 118kg in his second attempt, but could not lift 120kg in his last attempt. 

Gururaja Poojary demonstrated some fantastic lifting skills under pressure to ensure that India will earn a medal in the 61 Kg weightlifting event.In a stunning attempt, Gururaja lifted 151kg in his final Clean and Jerk attempt. He finishes with a total of 269kg (118kg + 151kg). 

With agency inputs