Gurunaidu Sanapathi becomes the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Youth World Championships
Gurunaidu Sanapathi has become India’s first gold medalist in weightlifting at the IWF Youth World Championships in Leon, Mexico.
Late on Sunday night, the 16-year-old won the gold medal in the boy’s 55kg event with a total effort of 230kg (104kg+126kg).
Sanapathi, the bronze medalist at the 2020 Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships, was first, followed by Ali Majeed of Saudi Arabia (229kg+124kg) in second and Yerassyl Umrov of Kazakhstan (224kg+124kg) in third.
On the second day of competitions, Sanapathi’s compatriot Soumya S. Dalvi won bronze in her event.
Dalvi of Maharashtra, a two-time Khelo India Youth gold medalist, heaved 148kg (65kg+83kg) to finish third in the 45kg girl’s event, behind Rose J Ramos of the Philippines at 155kg (70kg+85kg) and Kerlys M. Montilla of Venezuela at 153kg (71kg+82kg).
R Bhavani, the only Indian in the competition, came in eighth with a best effort of 132kg (57kg +75kg).
India now has four medals to its name in the world tournament.
Akansha Kishor Vyavhare and Vijay Prajapati won silver medals in their respective events on the first day of competition.
In the last edition of the competition, which was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last year, India did not compete.
