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Malleswari wins first medal, a silver, for India

Harpal Singh Bedi in Bangkok

Karnam Malleswari today won the silver medal in the women's 63kg class weightlifting competition to give India its first medal in the 13th Asian Games.

Malleswari, 23, narrowly missed the gold. Her career-best haul of 230kg, 105 kg in the snatch and 125 kg in the clean-and-jerk, fell just short of China's Lei Li who claimed the gold with a total lift of 232.5 kg.

The bronze went to Taiwan's Chen Jue Lien who lifted a total of 222.5 kg. Burma's Mya Sanda was fourth with 217.5 kg (95 kg and 122.5 kg).

Malleswari had also claimed the silver in the last Asian Games at Hiroshima in the 54kg category. Her previous best was 227.5kg (102.5kg in the snatch and 125kg in the jerk), achieved during the selection trials in India.

Today, Malleswari started the snatch with a 100kg attempt and then made 102.5kg in her second attempt. She ended with an effortless lift of 105kg in her third attempt, equalling the new world mark set by Lei, but the Chinese woman overhauled it in her next attempt, setting a new record of 107.5 kg. Ultimately, that made all the difference.

In the clean-and-jerk, Malleswari started with 120 kg, increased 5 kg in her second bid, and cleared it with ease. She then asked for a 7.5kg increase in her last bid.

"We decided to go for 132.5 kg after being assured of the silver," team coach Pal Singh Sandhu said. "We wanted to have a shot at the gold in case the Chinese girl failed."

Malleswari raised visions of gold when she made a nice, clean lift, but lost her balance while attempting the jerk.

Lei Li started with 102.5kg in the snatch, went for 105kg in the second attempt, and then lifted 107.5kg in the third. She began the clean-and-jerk with a failed attempt at 125kg, but managed to hold it in her second visit. She failed again in her bid for 130 kg in the third attempt.

Chen Jui Lien lifted 97.5 kg in her first attempt in the snatch and failed twice in her bid for 102.5kg. In the clean-and-jerk, she lifted 125 kg in her second attempt.

There were seven lifters in the fray. "I am very happy that I won the first medal for my country," Malleswari said later. "I was trying for gold and it would have been great had I got it, but I have no complaints."

Asked if she was under pressure to perform well after the dismal showing of other lifters, she admitted, "Pressure was there, but I was also determined to do well."

Malleswari had won the gold in the 1994 and 1995 World Championhips and in the 1995 Asian Championship in 54 kg.

She said that while lifting today "I was worried about my back problem, but thankfully nothing happened".

Asked why she shifted to the 63kg category, Malleswari said that in the last couple of years "I had put on weight and had I tried to reduce the weight for lifting purposes, there was a chance of my back problem getting aggravated".

A deputy manager in the Food Corporation of India, Malleswari, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, said she was taking part in active sports after a long break. Following marriage in March last year, Malleswari had taken a sabbatical from weightlifting, only to return with a vengeance, striking gold at the Asian Championships at Yangzhou, China, last year.

Malleswari spoke highly of Kunjarani Devi. "She is one of the best lifters in the world. It is sheer bad luck that she failed to win this time. She always won a medal whenever she participated in international meets."

Asked why other lifters have not performed as well as they were expected to, Malleswari said other countries have improved beyond "our expectations. We were hoping to win four to five medals here, but we never expected such a good show from other countries."

Bulgarian coach Stoytchef Trendafil said Malleswari had a chance for gold, but missed it narrowly. "Anyway she is a great lifter, I am happy with her performance," he said.

Trendafil and Sandhu said they were very cautious while advising Malleswari. "We were under pressure. We were starving for a medal and we had to be very careful about Malleswari's back problem. That is why we went first for 120 kg in clean and jerk and then 125 kg, because basically the contest was between India, China, Taiwan and Burma."

Malleswari's medal lifted the pall of gloom that had descended on the huge Indian contingent and hordes of officials surfaced from nowhere to greet her.

After a series of impressive performances on the domestic circuit, Malleswari took the world by storm, winning two golds and a bronze at the Istanbul World Championships in 1994.

The next two years established her on the weightlifting scene. She defended her title in 1995 in the world meet in China and picked up three golds at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in South Korea.

The same year, the Government of India honoured her with the Arjuna Award, the country's highest sports citation. The year 1996 brought more recognition in the form of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the K K Birla Foundation Award.

UNI