West Bengal weightlifter Achinta Sheuli gave India the third gold medal at the 22nd Commonwealth Games, winning the mens 73kg event with a total lift of 313kg on the second day at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England on July 31.

Sheuli lifted 143kg in snatch and 170kg in clean & jerk. He also shattered the Games Record in snatch and total. This was sixth overall medal for Indian and all by weightlifters. Earlier weightlifters Mirabai Chanu and Jeremy Lalrinnunga won one gold each, Sanket Sargar and Bindyarani Devi secured a silver each and Poojary Gururaja grabbed one bronze.

Sheuli dedicate his gold medal to his elder brother Alok, who sacrificed his own weightlifting career to help the younger sibling come thus far. A talented weightlifter himself, with gold medals at the state level, Alok gave up weightlifting and workied as an unskilled labourer.

Hailing from a economically weaker family, Sheuli did embroidery work with his brother and mother Purnima after his father Pratik, who worked as a manual labourer in Howrah, passed away in 2014.
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PHOTO: Indian weightlifter Achinta Sheuli with his gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on 31 July 2022.