Khoni conquers summit

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 28: Two illustrious weightlifting policewomen must have nodded in approval when P Khoni Devi of Police Sports Control Boa...

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 28: Two illustrious weightlifting policewomen must have nodded in approval when P Khoni Devi of Police Sports Control Board rewrote the 69 kg women’s clean and jerk national record in the Senior National Weightlifting competition at Subhash Maidan, Kalyan, on Tuesday.

The first, veteran Kunjurani Devi, because Khoni belongs to her state and is a fellow alumnus of the SAI Hostel (Imphal). The second, international N Lakhmi of AP because the previous record of 125 kg stood in her name.

Khoni stared with 87.5 kg snatch, admittedly her Achilles Heel. It was enough to fetch her gold. Her second attempt in the clean and jerk (c&j) of 115 kg assured her of two more gold medals as silver and bronze medallists Bela Rani and P Shailaja respectively fell at 110-kg hurdle.

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Khoni Devi quickly revised her third and final attempt from 117.5 to 125.5 kg to get a shot at the record. The crowd watched with bated breath as the feisty and well-built policewoman stayed up the jerk.

At 20, Khoni Devi isin the cusp between juniors and women’s. She stood fourth in Junior World Championships in 1997-98 and hopes Tuesday’s performance will earn her a place in the senior Indian squad for the Asian Championship at Osaka (Japan) in May.

Her current coach Goel of SAI (Delhi) said this performance would have ranked sixth or seventh in Asia. “She has to improve on her snatch,” he added.

Bela and Shailaja missed an identical 85-kg snatch, 110 c&j and 195 overall but Bela (66.85kg) won silver for weighing 550 grams lesser than Shailaja.

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Earlier, the 69kg men’s contest promised a battle between two ’98 Commonwealth bronze medalists — Sandeep Kumar and M Arun.

Arun from ICS, Perambur, was a 62kg bronze medallist at Kuala Lumpur but was upgraded to this event after he failed to lose weight. Sandeep — third in the 69kg event at Kuala Lumpur — was the favourite but a bad back forced him to fourth position (overall). Like Khoni, the 22-year-old Arun had a shy at the clean and jerk national record (165 kg) butfailed.

Results
Men’s 69 kg snatch: V Sangaram (Pondicherry) 127.5 kg, M Arun (Railways) 125, G Vadivelu (Services) 125. Clean and jerk: Arun 162.5, Vadivelu 160, J Luthuraj (Mah) 155. Overall: Arun 287.5, Vadivelu 285, J Luthuraj 280.

62 kg snatch: S Ramachandran (Mah, 59.8kg) 115 kg, G Murugeshan (Rlws, 61.1) 115, Srikant Mudi (Bengal, 61.2) 115. C&J: Murugeshan 145, Janendar Singh (Police, 61.5) 145, S Ramachandran 142.5. Overall: Murugeshan 260, Janender 260, Ramachandran 257.5.

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Women’s 69 kg snatch: P Khoni Devi (Police Sports Control Board) 87.5 kg, Bela Rani (FCI, 66.85) 85, P Shailaja (AP, 67.4) 85. C&J: Khoni Devi 125.5 (new national record), Bela Rani 110, Shailaja 110. Overall: Khoni Devi 212.5, Bela Rani 195, Shailaja 195.