Bronze finish for lifter Bindyarani Devi at World Cup

Phuket, April 2

Commonwealth Games medallist weightlifter Bindyarani Devi clinched the bronze medal in the women’s 55kg category at the IWF World Cup here today.

Competing in a non-Olympics class, the 25-year-old lifted a total of 196kg (83kg+113kg) to finish third.

However, it was an underwhelming display by the Manipuri lifter, who had won the CWG silver in Birmingham with a total effort of 203kg in 2022.

She could manage three legal lifts in her six attempts here and her total was 38kg less than that of North Korea’s Kang Hyon Gyong, who won gold for her effort of 234kg (103kg+131kg).

Romania’s Mihaela Valentina Cambei, who has qualified for the Paris Olympics in Mirabai Chanu’s 49kg class, took home silver with a personal best effort of 201kg (91kg+110kg).

Bindyarani also bagged the silver medal in the clean and jerk section for her 113kg lift. Medals are awarded separately for snatch, clean and jerk, and total lift in continental, World Cups and World Championships.

Despite her medal-winning performance at the final Olympics qualifying event, Bindyarani is out of contention for the Paris Games.

She had moved up to the 59kg class that features in the Paris Olympics and competed in the 2022 World Championships in that category, finishing 25th. But she switched back to her old 55kg division, in which she won an Asian Championships silver last year.

She is currently ranked 29th in the 59kg Olympics qualification ranking (OQR) and is out of reckoning as the top 10 lifters in each class will qualify for the Games.