More Laurels For Odisha Lifters As Hrudananda Wins Silver & Bronze At Commonwealth Weightlifting

Bhubaneswar: Odisha lifters continued their brilliant form at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Suva, Fiji, as Hrudananda Das won a silver and a bronze medal in 89 kg category on Thursday.

He lifted 129 kg in snatch and 170 kg in clean & jerk for a total of 299 kg.

A trainee of Odisha-Tenvic Weightlifting HPC’s Dhenkanal Sub-Centre, 17-year-old Hrudananda secured silver in youth category and bronze in junior category.

He had been honing his skills at the national camp in Patiala for the last six months, informed Odisha Weightlifting Association secretary and Olympian K Ravi Kumar.

Hrudananda is the second lifter from Dhenkanal Sub-Centre to win medal(s) at the ongoing Commonwealth Championship, a day after Swayamjit Prasad Sahoo bagged gold medal in the youth boys’ 67 kg event.

All four Odisha weightlifters have made the state and country proud by contributing 6 medals, including 4 gold, to the Indian tally at the Fiji Commonwealth Championship 2024. On the opening day, Mina Santa secured two gold and one silver in girls’ 55 kg category, while Jyoshna Sabar captured gold in girls’ 40kg class.

With his latest haul of a silver and bronze, Hrudananda took his total number of international medals to 3. At the last Commonwealth Championship, held in Greater Noida, he had struck gold, albeit in the 73 kg category.

Hrudananda, who is from New Kutunia Sahi, Jubuli Town, Dhenkanal, trains under HPC Sub-Centre head coach Gopal Krushna Das.

Hrudananda’s father Harihar Das is an auto driver and mother Golap Das a housewife.

His coach believes Hrudananda has the potential to win medals at the Asian and World championships.

“Hrudananda is being reckoned as one of the most promising lifters of the country. Job offers have started coming to him from different public sector undertakings. Today we received offers from Services and Railways. A job is sure to help him support his family and focus more on achieving excellence in weightlifting,” said coach Das.