Vikas lifts career best, finishes 8th at South Asian c'ship

Ludhiana: Vikas Thakur came up with a career-best peformance on Thursday to finish eighth at the Senior Asian Weightlifting Championship in Uzbekistan. Competing in the under-85kg category, the Ludhiana-based weightlifter managed to lift 335kg (150kg snatch and 185kg in clean and jerk), and was the best performer amongst Indians at the championship.
The performance means that the Indian weightlifting men's team continues to have a good chance at finding a strong number of berths at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The official confirmation on this is expected on April 30, when the chamiponship ends. "My main target was to beat Japan and Turkmenistan, as both were the strongest competitors and I have done that. I am quite happy with my performance," Thakur said while talking to TOI over the phone from Uzbekistan. "A position in the top ten was important for me to be in the race for the Olympics."
Vikas's father, Brij Lal Thakur, claimed that Thakur did well in spite of a shoulder injury. Now, India weightlifters going to compete in the under-94kg, under-105kg and 105kg+ weight categories on Saturday.