Maharashtra’s Commonwealth Games medalist in weightlifting Sanket Sargar has an uphill task ahead

Maharashtra’s 21-year-old promising weightlifter Sanket Sargar, battled a right elbow injury on his way to win a silver medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in the men’s 55kg.

Following a surgery to get rid of the pain in the right elbow and rehabilitation, Sargar was back to routine practice at the national camp in Patiala, Punjab.

Unfortunately, a year later, the future star failed to cement his place in the 2023 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships being held on home soil.

Sargar claimed he was fit and healthy, but didn’t throw light on missing a berth for the six-day long Commonwealth Senior Weightlifting Championships that started from Tuesday at the Gautam Buddha University campus in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

“I’m fit and have started normal practice. There is no injury issue,” Sargar told Sportskeeda over the phone from his hometown in Sangli, Maharashtra.

The Commonwealth youth and junior competition will also be held simultaneously at the same venue.

Incidentally, Sargar has switched his weight category to 61kg from 55kg. The Sangli-based Commonwealth Games medal winner wasn’t good in the selection trials in his new weight category and couldn’t earn a berth in the national team. Shubham Todkar will represent India in the 61kg.

Missing out on the 2023 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship means the Sangli lifter will have to start afresh to earn a place back in the national team.

“The only possibility to earn a place back in the national squad is by winning a gold in the next national championships,” a national weightlifting coach familiar with the development said.

“The Commonwealth weightlifting championships is considered a cakewalk for the Indian lifters as there is hardly any competition at this level,” a former national level weightlifter from Haryana said.

However, it is quite challenging, when it comes to winning medals at the Asian Games or the Asian weightlifting championships.

Will Sargar make it to the national team again and compete in another international in 2024? Indeed, it will be a challenging task, a former national level-weightlifter said.

According to the national coach, a jump from the 55kg to 61kg weight category isn’t that easy, as it might take more than 12 months to adjust to a new weight group.

“If you add six kilograms body weight, it means the athlete should be capable of increasing nearly 50kg load on the barbells during clean and jerk to stay in the race for a medal at the national level,” the national coach added. “It could be more challenging to win a medal at the international level."

Post 2022 Commonwealth Games, Sargar got a job via sports quota in the Indian Railways. It was one of the significant gains and job security for the promising lifter, a weightlifting coach from Maharashtra said.

Sargar comes from a very humble background, and his father is a small-time vendor in Sangli.

The Maharashtra Weightlifting coach stated that Sargar will have to prove himself again to find a place in the Indian team.

“Financially things have changed a bit. Sargar was also included in the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) for financial assistance,” the Maharashtra coach added. “Currently he is out of the national camp. The 2023 season is all but over for Sargar. The promising lifter will have to prove himself again via national competition to find a place in the Indian team.”