Dilanka Isuru Kumara won Sri Lanka’s first medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games when he clinched bronze in the men’s 55kgs weight class lifting a total weight of 225kgs in the men’s weightlifting competition on Saturday. Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan Mohamad won the gold with a games record weight of 249kgs and India’s Sanket Mahadev Sargar settled for the silver lifting a weight of 248kgs.
Dilanka’s second lift of 105 kgs in the snatch and the first lift of 120kgs in the clean and jerk won him the bronze ahead of England’s Ben Hickling who had a total weight of 212. The 25-year-old made valiant attempts in his second and third attempts trying to lift 137 and 141 kgs respectively to overpower his Indian counterpart but could not perform them to perfection.
