Dipali Gursale, Prashant Koli break records to win weightlifting gold medal

On the first day of the weightlifting competition, Dipali Gursale and Prashant Koli of the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) of Maharashtra broke national records, winning the gold medals in the 37th National Games held at the Campal Sports Village here on Wednesday. Gursale achieved Maharashtra’s first gold medal at the National Games in the women’s 45 kg category by improving the national mark in Snatch with a third lift of 75 kg.She went on to lift a total of 165 kg. While Telangana’s T. Priya Darshini won bronze, Chandrika Tarafdar of West Bengal broke the country record for clean and jerk.

Gursale, who hails from Sangli district, broke Komal Kohar’s snatch record of 74 Kg and Jhilli Dalabehera’s total record of 164 kg. Chandrika Tarafdar also broke Jhilli’s clean and jerk record of 94 Kg.
Later, Koli managed to pip Maharashtra’s Mukund Aher for the men’s 55 kg gold medal by beating the latter’s national mark in snatch by one kilogram. He lifted an aggregate of 253 kg (115 in snatch and 138 in C&J) to add a second gold medal to the Services tally. S. Guru Naidu of Andhra Pradesh won the bronze.
In the Women’s 49 Kg category, Gyaneshwari Yadav clinched the gold lifting a total of 177 Kg. Preeti of Haryana secured silver with a total of 174 Kg while former Asian Champion in the 45 Kg, Jhilli Dalbehera finished with a bronze medal, lifting 167 Kg.