SPO-KHELO WEIGHT LIFTING

Khelo: Hosts, Manipur share lifting honours on day 3

Pune, Jan 11 (PTI)Manipur maintained their reputation

in weightlifting picking two gold, but hosts Maharashtra

picked as many to give them a strong competition at the Khelo

India Youth Games here Friday.

Between the two states, they accounted for four of the

six golds on offer during the day, while Uttar Pradesh and

Assam grabbed one each, a media release said.

Ranjit Chavan and Rupa Mahadev Hangandi brought glory

for Maharashtra in the men's 73 kg junior category and the

women's 59kg junior category, respectively, while L

Sadanand Singh in the men's 73kg youth and S Bindyarani Devi

from womens' 55kg juniors did it for Manipur.

In the women's 55kg youth category, Shristhi from

Uttar Pradesh won quite comfortably with a total lift of 157

kg -- 70 kg in snatch and 87 kg in clean & jerk.

Manipur's S. Bindyarani Devi won the women's 55 kg

Juniors gold with a total lift of 179 kg.

In the men's 73kg youth category, Manipur's L.

Sadanand Singh claimed gold by lifting a total of 249 kg, 109

kg in snatch and 140 in clean & jerk.

In the men's 73kg juniors it was a tough battle

between Ranjit Chavan and N Ajith of Tamil Nadu who were tied

in the snatch category with 125 kg lifts each.

In the end, Ranjit defeated Ajith by a whisker by

lifting 151 kg against the latter's 150 kg in clean & jerk.

Ranjit totalled 276 kg while Ajith had 275 kg to his

name for the silver.

The womens 59kg youth category saw Assams Ditimoni

Sonowal claim the top spot with a total of 151 kg.

Rupa Mahadev from Maharashtra, a silver medallist at

the Asian Junior Championship, was the big draw in the womens

59kg juniors, but faced a stiff challenge from Mohini Chavan

of Haryana.

It was Rupa who emerged the better of the two with a

total lift of 186 kg for gold while Mohini with a total of 181

kg had to settle for silver.

Sukarna Adak from West Bengal won the bronze lifting a

total of 177 kg.