The Hindu : Sport / Wrestling : Pramod Goswami bags gold

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 02, 2007
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Sport - Wrestling

Pramod Goswami bags gold

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Pramod Goswami of U.P. bagged the first set of gold medals in the junior National weightlifting championship here on Thursday. Goswami excelled in the clean and jerk in the 56-kg category to record a good total lift though he lost to the fancied Sukhan Dey in the two-handed snatch. Dey has the reputation of having won gold in the Asian sub-junior championship in 2005 but inexplicably was nowhere near his best today.

Later, in the women's 48-kg category, the tussle was between Jyotsana Tarafdar of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh's B. Usha.

The close finish — just one kg separated the two in the total lift — typified the exciting finish. Jyotsana bettered Usha only in the snatch section.

Record entries

Earlier, the championship which attracted a record 350 entries, was inaugurated by the SDAT Member Secretary, Atulya Mishra.

Interestingly, host Tamil Nadu has entered in just two events in the men's section.

TNWA Secretary Tamil Selvan clarified that he had made it clear to the lifters that they should enter the competition only if they were sure of not having done anything wrong.

Meanwhile the SAI has ensured that no medal winners as well as a few random lifters leave the arena without providing urine samples. The samples are to be sent to a Hong Kong-based testing centre.

The results: Men: 56-kg: Snatch: 1. Sukhan Dey (WB) 106kg; 2. J. Thirukumaran (Uchl) 103; 3. Pramod Goswami (U.P.) 101; Clean and Jerk: 1. Pramod Goswami 132; 2. M. Tamilselvan (TN) 126; 3. Shiv Shankar (Bih) 123; Total: 1. Pramod Goswami 233; 2. Sukhan Dey 228; J. Thirukumaran 225.

Women: 48 kg: Snatch: 1. Jyotsana Tarafdar (WB) 64-kg; 2. B. Usha (AP) 62; 3. M. Sivarani (AP) 61; Clean and Jerk: 1. B. Usha 84; 2. Jyotsana Tarafdar 81; 3. M. Sivarani 79; Total: 1. B. Usha 146-kg; 2. Jyotsana 145; 3. M. Sivarani 140.