Winning CWG gold is life's turning point: Sivalingam

For weightlifter Satish Kumar Sivalingam, the gold in the Commonwealth Games here has been a life-changing experience as he has fulfilled his parents' dream of seeing their son winning the top prize in the multi-sporting event.

The 22-year-old Satish, a Southern Railway employee, said his parents would have been disappointed had he not won a gold after four years of intensive training.

"It (winning the gold) is life's turning point. I have realised my dream of becoming a Commonwealth gold medal. It was four years of hard work and expectation. My parents were telling people of my village in Vellore district that I will win a gold medal at the Games. I have fulfilled their

dreams," he said.

"I am from a poor family and my father was in the army in a small post. He played at the national championships but failed to make win a medal at the international level. He wanted me to win a medal in a big international event," he added.

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Explaining how he took up to weightlifting, Satish said, "My father initiated me to weightlifting and I started at a village gym when I was just 15 years old. For the last four years I have been training, first at home and then at NIS Patiala at the national camp with the single-minded determination to win gold in CWG."

"I joined Southern Railways in Chennai in 1998 at the age of 19 and it has been four years now," he informed.

Satish lifted a Games record 149kg en route to winning the gold and asked about it, he said, "I had lifted more than the record only once in my career and that too in Birmingham while training.

"The Birmingham training really helped. We reached Birmingam on June 23 and trained there before coming here. We got acclimatised with the climatic conditions here and also with the food."

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He said he need to improve his clean and jerk performance if he wants to win a medal in a tougher field in the Asian Games.

"I need to improve my clean and jerk if I want to do well in Asian Games. If I do that I think I can win a medal in Asian Games."

On his rivalry with Katulu Ravi Kumar who won the silver, Satish said, "Ravi is my friend. I competed against him today but we are friends and we had shared rooms in many international events.

"Training with him helped as it has improved my performance through competition. In the next few years I think the competition in men's 77kg will be between two of us."