`Uttolan 2012`, the All-India Open Weightlifting Tournament, which was organised by Ranu Sports Magazine with the cooperation from Odisha Weightlifting Association (OWA) and Bhubaneswar Athletic Association (BAA) at Kalinga Stadium here on Feb 11 and 12, helped lesser-known talents corner glory.

Among the competitors, five youngsters won a gold medal each on the opening day. They included Pooja Sabat (Bir Hanuman Gymnasium, Berhampur); Jyoti Mal, Shampa Seth (both DBS, Howrah); Kola Sarath and Arun Kumar Santa (both Sports Hostel, Berhampur).

Over 100 lifters from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha took part in the two-day tournament, which was inaugurated by Odisha Governor Muralidhar Chandrakant Bhandare in the presence of weightlifting Arjuna Awardee Bijay Kumar Satpathy, State Sports Director Saswat Mishra, OWA secretary Narayan Sahu, BSS secretary S R Parija and former international woman lifter Ranu Mohanty.

V Eswar Rao of Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh) and Sanjukta Sahu of Berhampur (Odisha) emerged best man and woman lifters respectively. Eswar won the title in the 94kg weight category, lifting 115kg in snatch, 151kg in clean and jerk for a total of 266kg. Sanjukta, a product of Bira Hanuman Gymnasium, claimed the title in the 69kg category with a total lift of 140kg, which included 60kg in snatch and 80kg in clean and jerk. Nine other lifters bagged titles on the final day. Former Odisha State Sports Director Rabindra Nath Das gave away mementos at the closing function.