Chennai: Weightlifter Sathish Kumar Sivalingam on Saturday provided a respite to Tamil Nadu, which has been lurching from one protest to another in recent times, by winning the 77-kg gold at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. No wonder the power house from Vellore was hot on Twitter all day.
Sathish lifted 317 kg (144 kg in snatch and 173 kg in clean-and-jerk) for the gold. From Sachin Tendulkar to Kamal Haasan, everyone was singing his praises.
There is something between Sathish, 26, and the Commonwealth Games, as he had also won the gold in the same weight category in the previous edition at Glasgow.
Later in the day, weightlifter Ragala Venkat Rahul clinched the 85-kg title to ensure that India’s all four gold medals Down Under so far were from one sport. Indian weightlifting is truly living up to the host city’s name.
There may be nothing like first love, but for Sathish his second gold is sweeter than his first. “I had gone to Glasgow with the hope of winning the gold medal. But I never imagined that I would stand atop the podium in Gold Coast because I had been battling a serious thigh injury in the run-up. After the senior national championship earlier this year, my biggest worry was getting fit for the Commonwealth Games,” he told this newspaper.
The Railways employee credited his department coach Vijay Sharma, who has accompanied him to Gold Coast, for being a constant source of encouragement when he was down. “Dealing with the injury was difficult but my coach never allowed me to feel disheartened. Without his support I don’t know whether I would have been able to win my second gold,” he said.
Sathish’s thigh strain had been so severe that he hadn’t even informed his parents about it in the fear of upsetting them. “My mother generally worries a lot about me. I didn't want to make her even more anxious about my injury. Her support gives me immense strength. That’s why she was the first person I wanted to share my joy with,” he said.
Having bagged back-to-back gold medals, Sathish has proved that he is no one Games wonder. Is the achiever ready for the wedding bells? “No, not at all,” he laughed. “I will not get married before the 2020 Olympics. My immediate target is to do well at the Asian Games later this year,” he added.
