Jeremy Lalrinnunga: How Son Of Boxer Became Ace Weightlifter

BENGALURU: Jeremy Lalrinnunga on Sunday rewrote history books as he lifted a combined weight of 300kg (140kg in snatch and 160kg in clean & jerk) to grab the second gold medal for India in the ongoing Commonwealth Games.

The 19-year-old lifted 136kg in his first snatch attempt and bettered it by pulling off 140kg in his second snatch attempt to create the CWG 2022 record. However, his third snatch attempt, 143kg, resulted in a foul.

The Mizoram weightlifter lifted 154kg in his first clean & jerk attempt and improved his performance by lifting 160kg in his second attempt, which ultimately resulted in a total weight of 300kg and ensured him the top position.

However, he was not completely satisfied with his performance even after winning the gold medal.

“I am feeling very happy but I’m not satisfied with my performance. I had a slight cramp in my muscle so I couldn’t perform as I thought in clean & jerk. Whatever I did in clean & jerk and I don’t know how heavy the weight was. I cried a lot after lifting. I’m not happy with 300kg as I had worked diligently for the games. But I am happy that I won the gold,” he said.

He received rapturous adulation from the crowd when he reached the podium to collect his medal though he was visibly in pain.

Born in Aizawl in 2022, Jeremy wanted to be a boxer like his father but destiny had other plans for him. His father, Lalneihtluanga, was a renowned Mizoram boxer in the 1990s but stepped away from the sport to support his family and joined the Public Works Department (PWD).

At the age of 9, he started training in basic weightlifting techniques in the state academy and showed enormous promise. After that, he was selected to train at the Army Sports Institute in Pune where his career in weightlifting took off.

He was catapulted to fame when in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires (Argentina), he lifted a total weight of 274kg (124kg in snatch and 150kg in clean & jerk) to rack up a gold medal in the Boys’ 62kg category weightlifting.

The plucky weightlifter added another feather in his cap when he bagged another gold at the Commonwealth Championships in Tashkent last year in the Men’s 67kg category.

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