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Indian weightlifters Harjinder Kaur and Gyaneshwari Yadav, silver medalists at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, expressed their vow to win the gold for the country in the next edition of the competition in 2030, which will be held on home soil in Ahmedabad.
A total of eight medals were secured by the Indian weightlifting contingent at the CWG 2026, with a gold medal, six silver medals and a bronze medal. The highlight was the gold by Mirabai Chanu in the women's 48 kg category, marking a hat-trick of Commonwealth golds. Gyaneshwari Yadav's national record-establishing performance in the women's 53 kg category (with a combined lift of 199 kg in snatch and clean and jerk categories giving her a silver) and silver medalist Lovepreet Singh's national record-making snatch lift in +110 kg (176 kg) were also among the highlights. Silver from Rishikanta Singh men's 60 kg), Muthupandi Raja (men's 65 kg), Ajaya Babu (men's 79 kg) and Harjinder Kaur (women's 69 kg) and a bronze from Bindyarani Devi (women's 58 kg) were the other standout performances. Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of a welcome and felicitation ceremony held by Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Harjinder dedicated the medal win to her family and coaches, who helped her reach where she is. Having changed the medal's colour from bronze in the 2022 edition to silver in Glasgow, her next target is a gold medal on Indian soil. "First of all, I would like to dedicate the medal to my family, as they played a huge role in helping me reach this point. And then, the people who got me started in the sport, my coaches Paramjit Sharma and Jaspal Singh. They always appreciated and motivated me. I want to express my deepest gratitude to them. I won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2022, and this time I won a silver medal. Next time, I'll aim for the gold, especially since the games will be held in India. Winning gold would feel amazing," said Harjinder. Gyaneshwari also said that her journey to the medal involved "a lot of hard work and struggle" and thanked her parents for the support. She also pointed to the 'no-days-off' mode which helped her train and made her medal ready. "It has involved a lot of hard work and struggle. I have reached this point thanks to immense support from my parents. Preparing for this competition required tremendous effort; there were times I could not go home for months, and I tried to train continuously without taking Sundays off. That hard work is what has resulted in this silver medal today. I will definitely give it my 100 per cent for the gold. Since the Commonwealth Games are taking place in India in 2030, I will make every effort to win gold for the country," she said. The 2026 Games were hosted under a compact format, leading to the removal of major Indian medal-earning events like shooting, wrestling, and badminton. India finished fourth in the medals table at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with 39 medals, including 13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze. India officially began its journey towards hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Amdavad as the Commonwealth Games Flag was ceremonially handed over during a spectacular Closing Ceremony that celebrated the conclusion of Glasgow 2026 and looked ahead to the historic centenary edition of the Games. The symbolic moment marked the return of the Commonwealth Games to India after the 2010 edition (in New Delhi) and to Gujarat for the very first time. More importantly, it signalled the beginning of a new chapter for Indian sport as the nation prepares to welcome athletes from across the Commonwealth for the landmark 2030 edition. With the ceremonial handover to India complete for the 2030 Centenary Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports aims to restore traditional disciplines while building world-class infrastructure to ensure a record-breaking medal haul. (ANI)
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