Omkar Ottari added a bronze medal to the Indian kitty as he emerged third in the men’s 69kg category of the weightlifting competitions at the SECC Hall late on Saturday.
The 26-year-old lifter from Sangli, Maharashtra, was very much in contention for the gold medal after the first stage of the competition, but fell behind unable to match the power unleashed by the ironmen from Malaysia and Nigeria, who eventually topped the show.
Omkar was in the lead after snatch with a lift of 136kg, holding a lead of 1kg over Mohammed Hafifi Mansor (Malaysia) and a good 5kg over Yinka Ayenuwa (Nigeria). However, in the clean and jerk, the Indian was beaten to third place as Mansor finished with 170kg for a total of 305, while Ayenuwa powered his way back by lifting 171kg to push his total up to 301.
Omkar in third place could manage only a best of 160kg in clean and jerk and thus finished with a total of 296kg.
