AUCKLAND: The Indian Juggernaut in the commonwealth games weightlifting competitions continued but their shooters and shutters signed the surrender pact after ‘one-sided battles on the third day of the 10-day spectacle on Jan 26th.

Despite the presence of all-conquering weightlifters, India gave away to Australia their overnight top spot on the medal table and finished second after netting five more ‘gold’s, three bronze and four silvers for an overall Haul of 24 medals.

India shared top honors with Australia for the first time in the games when they swept 11 of the 12 weightlifting gold medals decided so far.

AS the lifters were hunting gold, India crashed to their fourth successive defeat and bid goodbye to the Badminton team events, losing 1-4 in the afternoon to hosts New Zealand after being edged out 2-3 by Scotland early in the day.

‘The unprecedented Indian success was due to Paramjit Sharma, who hauled all three gold’s in the 67.5 kg class (lightweight) to put India at par with Australia with eleven gold’s each.

In fact, India was separated from the top spot by 150 grams after Sharma had established a new commonwealth games record with a lift of 257.5 kgs, five kilos more than the listed mark.

The Giant Indian part was somewhat spoiled by Nauru’s Marcus Stephen, who heaved) 1125 kgs in the featherweight snatch for the tiny pacific island’s first ever ‘gold medal.

‘Sharma and Stephen had both hoisted the same weight but the Indian missed the gold for he was 150 grams heavier than his opponent.

Sudalaimani Kumaresen and Subrata Kumar Paul authored the closing lines of India’s success story Friday.

Kumaresen, eight years younger than Sharma, grabbed three bronze medals in the 60 kg class before Paul lifted a total of 292-5 kgs for two silvers in the 67.5 kg division but lost the snatch silver to Law-rence Iquairbom of Nigeria,

India’s poor show at badminton followed debacles at the shooting range where the Country finished eighth in the pairs air Pistol event with 1108 points as neighbor 100k the gold to match Nauru in maiden international triumphs.

Mansher and Samir Thapar failed to ‘trigger any improvement in the pairs Shot-gun Trench splitting the seventh spot with Maltese rivals with a score of 171.

‘They finished eighth in the competition. Shot 45 and Thapar 39, totaling only 84,

Article extracted from this publication >> February 2, 1990