It was a forgettable outing for the Indian weight lifters on Wednesday as Commonwealth Games silver medallist Bindyarani Devi and national champion N Ajith both put up underwhelming displays at the IWF Grand Prix II in Doha.
First, Bindyarani was unable to earn an overall total in the women’s 55kg division after failing to lift the required weight in the clean and jerk section on all three of her tries.
The Indian was among the only two competitors in the 12-lifter field on Wednesday night in Doha that did not finish.
In her six attempts, the 24-year-old was only able to complete two legal lifts, both of which occurred in the snatch section, when she recorded a best effort of 81 kg.
She recorded her personal best in the clean and jerk category – 116 kg – in the CWG last year in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, Ajith finished in second place in Group C of the men’s 73kg Olympic weight class with a lacklustre performance.
With a combined effort of 290 kg, the gold medallist from the Commonwealth Championships hoisted 133 kg in the snatch and 157 kg in the clean and jerk.
This is a drastic 22 kg fewer than the 312 kg he lifted at the World Championships in September.
There will be five Indian competitors in this Olympic qualifying event for Paris 2024.
Achinta Sheuli is competing in Group B’s 73kg event. However, Mirabai Chanu, the 2017 world champion and silver medallist from the Olympics in Tokyo 2020, will be there for the weigh-in at the Doha meet, but she won’t be lifting weights as she is still recovering from an injury she sustained during at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou back in October.
Gurdeep Singh, who won bronze at the CWG, will also participate in the men’s +109kg category.