The Hindu : Sport / Weightlifting : Great day for Balinder and Manisha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 02, 2005

Sport

Sport - Weightlifting

Great day for Balinder and Manisha

A. Vinod

ALAPPUZHA: Two young Indians, Balinder Singh and Manisha Pawar, had the arc lights firmly trained on them as the host team enjoyed yet another profitable day at the 17th Asian powerlifting championship at the Raiban auditorium here on Sunday. At the end of the second day of the four-day event, the home team had a haul of 26 gold, including the 15 it won today.

The fine run of the Indians also saw some continental records getting broken. Of the eight marks registered on Sunday, Balinder and Manisha shared six between them, while the other record for the Indians came from their gritty senior compatriot G. Rajrajeswari. Incidentally, Rajrajeswari's new high was the first such record in the senior section in this championship.

The big story of the day was the impressive performance of Balinder en route to establishing his supremacy in the sub-junior section of the men's 67.5-kg category.

The 18-year-old Panipat lad had a career-best of 235-kg in squat, but was still left in second place by Uzbekistan's Timur Khakimdjanov who was in superb form and effortlessly lifted 250-kg. The Uzbek eclipsed the mark of 227.5-kg set by Chinese Taipei's Lee Chen Hsien in 2002.

Into the second apparatus — benchpress — the Indian shot himself ahead of his Uzbek rival with a new record effort of 147.5-kg (old record: 132.5 by Harinderpal Singh of India in 2003) while Khakimjdanov could manage only 125. Finally, Balinder proved to be head and shoulders above the rest as he deadlifted an amazing, record-shattering 295-kg (30 more than the existing one held by Lee Chen Hsien) and claimed the total gold.

Balinder's total of 677.5-kg was 65 more than Hsien's old mark of 612.5 while Khakimdjanov, after settling for a best of 200 in deadlift, bagged the silver with a total of 575. India's Sumit Kumar took the bronze with 512.5.

Manisha too ended the day with three records against her name as she scooped up the gold in the sub-junior division of the women's 56-kg class. The record of 135.5-kg in squat was a thing of the past by the time the 16-year-old Ghaziabad girl completed her second attempt (137.5) in the apparatus.

The 10th standard student then improved upon it with a third lift of 147.5, before failing to impress in benchpress where she managed only 65.

Priyanka Ramesh Sawant, the second Indian in the fray, ran Manisha close with efforts of 142.5 in squat and 72.5 in benchpress, but the latter was not to be denied as she came up with a record lift of 150 in deadlift, enabling her break the total record too (362.5). Japan's Takei Ai had held the records in deadlift (135) and total (340) from 2002. Priyanka finished second with a total of 305, failing to achieve anything more than 90 in deadlift.

Rajrajeswari too had a memorable day, establishing a new record of 225.5 in squat (bettering Sarala Shetty's mark by 0.5-kg) to win the gold in the 75-kg senior category. The Andhra lifter had a total of 535 and she stole a march over Kazakhstan's Natalya Burlakova (482.5) and reigning champion Tatyana Fite of Uzbekistan (460).

The results:

Men: 60-kg: Seniors: 1. N. Anbu (Ind) (240 squat, 125 benchpress, 260 deadlift, 625 total); Juniors: 1. Dilshod Nazarov (Uzb) (172.5, 110, 170, 452.5); 2. Yousuf Said Saleem (Oman) (150, 80, 185, 415); Sub-juniors: 1. P. Srisailesam Yadav (Ind) (190, 97.5, 190, 477.5); Masters-1: 1. M. Palaniswamy (Ind) (175, 87.5, 200, 462.5); Masters-2: 1. Lee Sei-Ki (Kor) (35, 30, 60, 125); Masters-3: 1. Habibollah Padsh Nik (Irn) (112.5, 72.5, 140, 325); 2. Phool Singh (Ind) (97.5, 70, 120, 287.5).

67.5-kg: Seniors: 1. Fayyaz Ahmed (Ind) (260, 165, 245, 670); 2. Ishikawa Takuya (Jpn) (195, 175, 185, 555); 3. Dinesh Shreshta (Ind) (100, 85, 125, 310); Juniors: 1. Yahia Sulaiman Darwish (Oman) (190, 120, 210, 520); Sub-juniors: 1. Balinder Singh (Ind) (235, 147.5, 295, 677.5), 2. Timur Khakimdjanov (Uzb) (250, 125, 200, 575), 3. Sumit Kumar (Ind) (210, 100, 202.5, 512.5); Masters-1: 1. T.V. Thomas (Ind) (240, 130, 220, 590); 2. Vahiddin Najimidinov (Uzb) (130, 80, 160, 370); Masters-2: 1. Taher Zabanfahm (Irn) (162.5, 107.5, 170, 440).

Women: 52-kg: Seniors: 1. S. Seena (Ind) (165, 77.5, 172.5, 415); 2. Sun de Tova (Kaz) (120, 67.5, 132.5, 320); Juniors: 1. Wang Yi Ting (Chinese Taipei) (110, 67.5, 142.5, 320), 2. Anna Vasina (Uzb) (120, 52.5, 130, 302.5); Sub-juniors: 1. Sheha Ashok Karpe (Ind) (100, 42.5, 100, 242.5).

56-kg: Seniors: 1. Irina Krotkova (Kaz) (170, 97.5, 175, 442.5); Juniors: 1. Sunita Toppo (Ind) (142.5, 62.5, 150, 355); Sub-juniors: 1. Manisha Pawar (Ind) (147.5, 65, 150, 362.5), 2. Priyanka Ramesh Sawant (Ind) (142.5, 72.5, 90, 305); Masters-1: 1. Rekha Gogoi (Ind) (72.5, 35, 87.5, 195); Masters-2: 1. Hisako Yoshida (Jpn) (135, 92.5, 115, 342.5).

60-kg: Seniors: 1. B. Tejeswini Naidu (Ind) (190, 97.5, 190, 477.5); 2. Tatyana Popova (Kaz) (150, 85, 150, 385); 3. Ip Wing Yuk (Hong Kong) (112.5, 67.5, 132.5, 312.5); Juniors: 1. Tseng Wai Jung (C. Taipei) (140, 70, 160, 370); Sub-juniors: 1. Makhbuba Zakharova (Uzb) (120, 70, 140, 330); 2. Paladugu Kyathi (Ind) (112.5, 35, 145, 302.5).

67.5-kg: Seniors: 1. Nadejda Malyigna (Uzb) (200, 115, 210, 525); 2. Ekaterina Kryukov (Kaz) (150, 85, 150, 385); Juniors: 1. Tseng Chien Iun (C. Taipei) (195, 97.5,187.5, 452.5), 2. Ranu Mohanty (Ind) (170, 80, 160, 437.5); Sub-juniors: 1. Ekaterina Ryabova (Uzb) (140, 67.5, 140, 347.5), 2. Liu Ai-Ling (C. Taipei) (122.5, 62.5, 135, 302.5); 3. Jenis Joseph (Ind), (105, 47.5, 130, 300); Masters-1: 1. Balwinder Kaur (Ind), (117.5, 72.5, 112.5, 302.5).

75-kg: Seniors: 1. G. Rajrajeswari (Ind) (225.5, 127.5, 182.5, 535), 2. Natalya Burlakova (Kaz) (200, 117.5, 175, 482.5); 3. Tatyana Fite (Uzb) (190, 100, 160, 460); Juniors: 1. Lo Hsiu Jung (C. Taipei) (180, 110, 170, 457.5); 2. Shikhare Subhasha (Ind) (175, 77.5, 167.5, 422.5); Sub-juniors: 1. Chung Pei Hsuan (C. Taipei) (150, 55, 160, 365); Masters-3: 1. Ratanmani Roychoudhary (Ind) (110, 52.5, 112.5, 275).

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