Indian weightlifters increased their medal harvest to eight at the 22nd Commonwealth Games (CWG) with Harjinder Kaur bagging bronze medal in women 71kg category at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England yesterday.

Punjab lifter Harjinder finished third with a total lift of 212kg, which featured 93kg in snatch and 19kg in clean & jerk. Sarah Davies of England won the gold with Games Record of 229kg while Alexis Ashworth of Canada claimed silver with 214kg.

The bronze by Harjinder was the seventh medal for India in the 2022 CWG weightlifting competition. The seven medals include three gold, two silver and two bronze. Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli won one gold each, while Sanket Sargar and Bindyarani Devi secured one silver each. Poojary Gururaja grabbed one bronze.

Twenty-five-year-old Harjinder belongs to Nabha in Punjab and trains at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala, under the guidance of head coach Vijay Sharma. Her father works as a farmer and is the sole earner in the family.

Harjinder started weightlifting at Punjab University in the year 2016. Before the CWG bronze, she also won one bronze medal at the 2021 Commonwealth Senior Championship.