When it was way past bedtime back home, two families, one each in Vellore in Tamil Nadu and another in Berhampur, along the eastern coastline in Odisha were up and praying for their representative in the 77kg category of the men's weightlifting at the 20th Commonwealth Games.
The duo, Satish Kumar Sivalingam, just 22 years of age and competing at his first Commonwealth Games, and Ravi Kumar Katulu, winner of the 69kg gold four years ago but now in a higher weight, did not disappoint. But the results were not in the order expected, as the younger and upcoming Satish upset his senior colleague Ravi to the gold, but it was gold-silver for India.
It was the second one-two for India in lifting and the fourth overall, with two others having come in shooting. A third gold-silver success in shooting came India's way in 50m Air Pistol, when Jitu Rai and Gurpal Singh added to the Indian kitty on Monday morning.
"My family must have stayed awake to see the event and hear about the news. This gold medal means everything to me and I want to thank my father. He was a national lifter, who drove me to the gym and made me work hard, along with my uncle (father's younger brother)," said Satish, who was still jumping with delight and repeatedly looking at his gold medals long after the ceremony.
When asked about his delighted jump after the final lift, he added, "When I made the last lift, it was a dream come true. It was a dream that I have had many times and it now come true. In fact, it was the dream for my whole family and I am delighted I could achieve this."
"It is my biggest medal, though I have won other medals in other competitions, but nothing compares to this."
Talking of his plans for the near future, Satish said, "Frankly when I started out, my big goal was to get a job with good showing in Nationals. I got that with Railways and then I aimed for the Indian team, which made it for World Juniors in Sofia, Bulgaria and Asian Championships in 2012 and 2013, those were my first appearances in senior section. Once I was in Indian team, my next step was a medal and I managed in juniors and this is my first one among seniors."
As for the next few steps, Satish, who took to the sport at the age of 13 looking hoping to follow in the footsteps of his Dad and Uncle, in Sathuvachari in Vellore, added, "There is the Asian Games but the big aim is Olympics in Rio in 2016. It is now my dream to compete at Olympics."
Satish's colleague, Ravi Kumar, despite being upset by his younger colleague had a lot of praise for Satish, saying, "I feel Satish has the potential to be a big star. He is going to go big in Indian lifting."
About his own performance, Ravi said, "I have just moved up from 69kg to 77kg and I had some problems with my shoulder also till few months ago, but I am slowly getting to my best and hopefully, I will be able to do better soon."
Talking about the spectre of doping scandals, which hung over Indian weightlifting, Ravi Kumar said, "Now all our lifters have been taught to take supplements given only by team doctors and coaches and they are careful about it. Also many of us keep track of latest news from WADA on prohibited substances."
Satish almost settled the issue with his snatch effort with his third and final lift of 149 kg, which was a Games record. Satish was already ahead with the second lift of 146, and then he asked for 149, which he successfully hoisted. The lift also bettered the Games record of 148 set by Yuko Peter of Nauru in 2010. The next best was 142 from Ravi Kumar, giving Satish a seven kg advantage going into the second half of the competition, Clean and Jerk.
In Clean and Jerk, Satish had a hiccup failing on his first attempt at 178. Though he felt he had a clean lift, the judges ruled otherwise. Ravi Kumar took the lead with an effort of 175kg. Satish raised the bar to 179 kg for his second attempt and he succeeded in it. That virtually sealed his gold.
Ravi, assured of a silver, gave a long shot with two attempts at 185kg, but failed both times.
Australia's Francois Etoundi bagged the bronze with a lift of 314kg (137+177) at the Clyde Auditorium.
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