Sudhir Unstoppable: The man who fought polio now won 6^th gold for India at CWG 2022

By Sanjay Maurya

Parapowerlifter Sudhir joined India’s gold medal tally at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Thursday, August 4 as he won the men’s heavyweight event with a new Games record. Sudhir Hailing from Sonepat, Haryana, he created a new Commonwealth Games record with his second lift of 212kg, for which he won 134.5 points which helped him clinch the gold medal. Sudhir’s body weight was 87.30 kg and his rack height was 14.

Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Opening ceremony: 28 July 2022
Closing ceremony: 8 August 2022
Motto: Sport is the beginning of all
Main venue: Alexander Stadium
Nations participating: 72 Commonwealth nations

Indian medal winners at Commonwealth Games 2022

No	Athlete/Team	Medal	Event	Sport
1	Sanket Sargar	Silver	Men’s 55kg	Weightlifting
2	Gururaja Poojary	Bronze	Men’s 61kg	Weightlifting
3	Mirabai Chanbu	Gold	Women’s 49kg	Weightlifting
4	Bindyarani Devi	Silver	Women’s 55kg	Weightlifting
5	Jeremy Lalrinnunga	Gold	Men’s 67kg	Weightlifting
6	Achinta Sheuli	Gold	Men’s 73kg	Weightlifting
7	Sushila Devi Likmabam	Silver	Women’s 48kg	Judo
8	Vijay Kumar Yadav	Bronze	Men’s 60kg	Judo
9	Harjinder Kaur	Bronze	Women’s 71kg	Weightlifting
10	Indian women’s team	Gold	Women’s fours	Lawn bowls
11	Vikas Thakur	Silver	Men’s 96kg	Weightlifting
12	Indian men’s team	Gold	Men’s team	Table Tennis
13	Indian mixed team	Silver	Mixed team	Badminton
14	Lovepreet Singh	Bronze	Men’s 109kg	Weightlifting
15	Saurav Ghosal	Bronze	Men’s singles	Squash
16	Tulika Maan	Silver	Women’s +78kg	Judo
17	Gurdeep Singh	Bronze	Men’s +109kg	Weightlifting
18	Tejaswin Shankar	Bronze	Men’s high jump	Athletics
19	Murali Sreeshankar	Silver	Men’s long jump	Athletics
20	Sudhir	Gold	Men’s heavyweight	Para Powerlifting

Para powerlifter Sudhir seals gold

Sudhir started his event with a successful attempt to lift 208 kg without breaking a sweat and secured 132.0 points. In his second attempt, he improved on his last attempt and successfully lifted 212 kg scoring 134.5 points. In the third and last attempt, he failed to lift 217 kg, but he won the gold medal with 134.5 points.

Sudhir made history by becoming the first para-athlete from India to take home a medal from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Sudhir, an Asian Para Games bronze medallist, has an impairment due to the effects of polio. Sudhir won the gold, while the silver medal went to Ikechuku, Kristian Obichuku, who finished with 133.6 points, and the bronze medal went to Scotland’s Mickey Yule, who finished third with 130.9 points.

As the curtain fell on the seventh day, India registered two historic outings to end the day on a high. Sreeshankar, the first Indian athlete, created history as the 23-year-old became the first Indian male athlete to win a medal in the long jump at the Commonwealth Games. Shortly thereafter para powerlifter Sudhir added India’s sixth gold in the ongoing Games, winning a gold medal in the men’s heavyweight final.

At the World Para Powerlifting Asia-Oceania Open Championship in South Korea in June, with the best lift of 214kg, Sudhir won a bronze in men’s up to 88kg. Sudhir, who started powerlifting in 2013 in Sonipat, has also qualified for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games, which was postponed to next year.