Balo Yalam, a 12-year-old weightlifter from Arunachal Pradesh, will be representing her state at the 12th National Youth Championship to be held in Bhubaneswar from November 29 to December 4.
Selected to compete in the women's 44 kg category, Balo Yalam was the winner among all the girl competitors in the 6th State Weightlifting Championship at SAI Centre Naharlagun this month. She lifted a total weight of 103kg (43 kg in Snatch and 60 kg in Clean and Jerk) to clinch the gold medal. Yalam also bagged the best girls’ weightlifter title in the championship.
The age limit to take part in the sub-junior (Youth) level competition is 13 years, but the Arunachal Weightlifting Association has selected her for the competition as she crossed 12 years during the 6th State Weightlifting Championship. Born on August 8, 2004, to Balo Tadi and Balo Ride, the weightlifting prodigy is a student of Sangay Lhaden Sports Academy and currently training under coach Piyainu Channu.
It remains to be seen whether Yalam can medal at the Summer Games and bring India back to the world scene after a series of setbacks. Since Karnam Malleswari's bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, our weightlifters have failed to produce medal-winning performances at the Olympics. India's weightlifting campaign at Rio de Janeiro ended in disappointment with Sathish Kumar Sivalingam finishing fourth and dark horse Mirabai Chanu failing to lift any weight in the clean and jerk category.
