Indian para powerlifter Jhandu Kumar won bronze at CWG 2026. According to coach Rajinder Singh Rahelu, the target was gold, but due to a slight miscommunication and calculation error, the team missed the gold medal by just two points.
glasgow [स्कॉटलैंड]July 25 (ANI): Indian para powerlifter Jhandu Kumar’s coach Rajinder Singh Rahelu said the team had targeted a gold medal but a slight miscalculation and miscommunication caused them to miss the top spot at the Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow.
Speaking to ANI after Zhandu won the bronze medal, Rahelu said that the team had already calculated the required lifts and were confident of winning the gold. “It’s a great thing, it feels great. We already knew, we had done the calculations. We were aiming for the gold, but for some reason it missed,” Rahelu told ANI.
Missed the gold medal due to a small mistake
He said the competition for the gold medal was tough and attributed the minor miss to miscommunication and a small error in calculation. He said, “The competition for the gold was very tight, as we saw. But it was not so; it was just miscommunication. I was a little off, and there was some difficulty in the calculation. As you saw, the medal was missed by just two points.”
Rahelu explained that in para powerlifting the difference between two points can be around 2-3 kg, making the competition extremely close. “Two figures means 2-3 kg. But considering how the body performs in such close contests, there was a slight error in the calculation. But no problem, we have a medal, and we have opened India’s account, which is a very good thing,” he said.
Jhandu Kumar’s bronze medal performance
Zhandu achieved a podium finish with a best successful lift of 190 kg, giving him 130.9 points. He started off strong with a score of 124.7 points by lifting 181 kg in his first attempt and improved his performance to 190 kg in the second lift, taking him to the top of the table for a while.
In her final attempt, Zandu targeted 196 kg, which would have broken the Commonwealth Games meet record set at Birmingham 2022. However, he could not complete the lift and ultimately finished with a bronze medal.
Performance of other Indian athletes
Earlier, India’s lightweight para powerlifter missed out on a medal. Ashok finished fourth in the men’s final with a personal best lift of 200 kg, scoring 143.8 points, while Paramjeet Kumar finished seventh with 176 kg and 135.6 points.
In the women’s lightweight category, Jaspreet Kaur finished sixth with a lift of 100 kg and a score of 96.4 points, while Suman Devi finished seventh with a best lift of 100 kg and a score of 88.4 points. Meanwhile, Kasturi Rajamani failed to register a single valid lift in the women’s heavyweight final as all three of her attempts failed.
Zhandu’s bronze medal is India’s first medal in para powerlifting at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. (ANI)
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