CWG: Ajaya Babu wins silver in 79kg weightlifting after record-breaking duel
Erry Hidayat Muhammad of Malaysia with his gold medal alongside Valluri Ajaya Babu of India with his silver medal, left, and Chris Murray of England
Erry Hidayat Muhammad of Malaysia with his gold medal alongside Valluri Ajaya Babu of India with his silver medal, left, and Chris Murray of England with his bronze medal, right. (AP) Fast-rising Indian weightlifter Valluri Ajaya Babu won the silver medal in the men's 79kg category at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, adding another medal to India's tally in the sport.The 21-year-old from Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh lifted a Commonwealth Games record 149kg in the snatch and 181kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 330kg. He finished just one kilogram behind Malaysia's Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who won the gold with a Games record total of 331kg (147kg snatch + 184kg clean and jerk).England's Chris Murray claimed the bronze medal with a total lift of 325kg.The battle for gold went down to the final lifts in the clean and jerk.
Hidayat first lifted 181kg to set a new Commonwealth Games record. Ajaya Babu then matched and bettered that effort by lifting 181kg in his final attempt, taking his total to 330kg. Hidayat responded with a successful lift of 184kg in his last attempt to regain the record and secure the gold medal.Earlier in the snatch, Ajaya Babu recovered after failing his second attempt at 149kg. He lifted the same weight in his third and final attempt to set a new Commonwealth Games record and finish first in the snatch standings ahead of Chris Murray (148kg) and Erry Hidayat Muhammad (147kg).Ajaya Babu opened the competition with a successful lift of 145kg in the snatch before finishing the section with the record lift.The silver medal was India's sixth medal in weightlifting at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.Ajaya Babu has been among India's top weightlifters in recent years.
At the 2025 Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad, he won gold in the men's 79kg category with a personal-best total of 335kg (152kg snatch + 183kg clean and jerk), setting new championship records. That performance earned him direct qualification for the Glasgow Commonwealth
Games.At the 2024 Commonwealth Championships in Suva, Fiji, he won gold medals in both the junior and senior men's 81kg categories.He also competed at the 2025 World Championships in Forde, Norway, where he finished 16th overall in a field of 39 lifters.
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