Jeremy Lalrinnunga Brings Shine Moment for India in Common Wealth Games 2022
The 19-year-old soul won the second gold medal at the Birmingham Common Wealth Games 2022 for India despite his elbow injury and muscle cramps.
Jeremy Lalrinnunga grew up in Aizawal. He is the son of a well-known Mizoram boxer, Lalneihtluanga, from the 1990s. He gave up his career in sports to support his family and took a job in the Public Works Department (PWD).
While speaking to the press, Lalneihtluanga, the father of Jeremy Lalrinnunga, said that despite his income of Rs. 370 each day, he always supported his son to the best of his abilities.
After Sanket Sagar fought back his injury to snatch the silver for India, on Saturday, with a complete 139 kg clean and jerk lifts in 55 kg category at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, the loudest cheer ran by the hall was that of the fellow weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga.
The 19-year-old youth broke into shouts of encouragement as if he had the personal hype man of Sagar. He shouted, “Ayega! Ayega! (It will come)” with a spirit of enthusiasm. He clapped and cheered his teammates with full support.
- On Sunday braving himself and fighting his own injuries Lalrinnunga fought back and won the gold medal for India in the 67 kg category at the Common Wealth Games, Birmingham.
Jeremy Lalrinnunga’s dominance on the stage of the event was quite a display.
- His snatch lift of 140kg was 10kg more than anybody.
- His injury-ridden clean jerk lift of 160kg ensured his way to gold.
He was trailed by a total of 300 kg by 7 kg and 10 kg, respectively, by the silver medalist, Samao Vaipava Ione, and the bronze, Edidong Umoafia, from Nigeria.
Jeremy Lalrinnunga strides onto the stage, as if he had known it for years. His confidence and ability spoke out after he failed the snatch attempt to break his own national record with a grin.
In his first two attempts, which were enough to pave his way to gold, Lalrinnunga faced painful muscle cramps and attempted the lift of 165kg, hurting his elbow injury, which made him fall back on the floor.
Despite his young age, Jeremy came to the Common Wealth Games in 2022 with high hopes and expectations on his shoulders.
He holds three 67 kg national records: 141 kg in snatch, 167 kg in clean and jerk and 360 kg in total.
Last year in the Commonwealth Championship he was fresh off gold after backing from the disappointment of failure to make cut for Tokyo.
Since 2018, the 19-year-old youth has been the bearer of the expectations of thousands. He has been in the limelight since the age of 15, when he won India’s first Youth Olympics gold medal in 2018. His career never stopped after that time and is now building, block by block.
Jeremy wanted to take boxing as his career, taking after his father, but after showing his promised ability in the state academy, he was selected for weightlifting.
He was trained in weightlifting with the basic techniques using bamboo sticks and water pipes.
At the age of 9, he was selected by the Army Sports Institute in Pune to get trained, from where his career began to take big leaps. After that, he was sent to Buenos Aires for the Youth Olympics.
With the high pressure of representing India internationally and his physical and mental health not close to being complete, far from his family, Lalrinnunga said to the press, “I was not scared even though it was a totally alien experience for me because two of my friends, Jacob Vanlalthanga and Zakhuma, were selected.”
“We did full masti (fun) but also learned a lot,” he said after his gold medal in Buenos Aires.
READ MORE: Commonwealth Games 2022: Small-town boy win India’s first medal
