Jhilli Dalabehera made Odisha proud by bagging bronze medal on the opening day of the Junior World Weightlifting Championships at Tashkent in Uzbekistan today. Competing in women’s 48kg weight class, she lifted 75kg in snatch and 92kg in clean & jerk for a total of 167kg.

An inmate of Bhubaneswar Sports Hostel, Jhilli also became the second Indian woman lifter after Saikhom Mirabai Chanu in 2013 to win a medal in the Junior World Championships. This was the fourth international medal for Jhilli, who trains under coach P Dharma Rao.

Earlier, she won silver in 2016 Junior Commonwealth Championship at Penang, Malaysia; gold in 2017 Junior Commonwealth Championship at Gold Coast, Australia and silver in 2018 Asian Junior Championship at Ugranch, Uzbekistan.