Kunjarani to lead weightlifting squad

Manchester Commonwealth Games Champion N Kunjarani Devi will lead a young Indian women's weightlifting squad in next month's Commonwealth Games to be held in Melbourne.

Indian Weightlifting Federation's Selection Committee on Wednesday picked a seven-member women's team and an equal number of men to represent the country in their first major event this year.

Determined to reclaim its lost glory at the international level, the IWF decided to send only sure medal prospects and dropped the weight categories in which the lifters were not up to the mark.

The Federation decided against sending any representatives in the women's 53 kg and instead included two candidates in the +75 kg division. The best performance in 53 kg was 181 kg while the requirement was 190-195.

They also preferred only a seven-member men's team despite being allowed to send eight lifters, since there was no strong contender in men's 94 kg, 105 kg and +105 kg.

Team:

Women: N Kunjarani (48kg), Y Renubala (58kg), B Preemavalli (63kg), L Monika Devi (69kg), Pujari Shailaja (69kg), Simple Kaur Bumrah and Geeta Rani (75kg).

Coaches: Hansa Sharma and K Amarnad.

Men: Vicky Batta and R Edwin (56kg), M Arun (62kg), CBR Sudhir Kumar (69kg), Mohammad Zakir (77kg), Tejinder Singh and Sateesha Rai (85kg).

Coaches: M Tamilsylvan and Jasvant Singh.