Indian weightlifters are making the country extremely proud at the Commonwealth Games 2026. The contingent is yet to drop a medal in the 23rd edition of the competition. On Monday, Bindyarani Devi maintained the momentum, winning bronze in the women’s 58kg category and, with this, her second Commonwealth medal, previously winning silver in the last edition in Birmingham. With this win, India has now won five medals in weightlifting at CWG 2026, while the total tally across sports stands at six.
Bindyarani came third with a total lift of 199kg across the snatch (87kg) and clean and jerk sections (112kg). Nigeria’s Rafiatu Folashade Lawal won gold with a total lift of 229kg while Ann Sophie Taschereau won silver with a total lift of 215kg. Nigeria’s Lawal set the new CWG clean and jerk record with a whopping lift of 126kg in her third and final attempt.
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She began the competition in the women’s 58kg category with a lift of 83kg in the snatch category. In the next two attempts, she successfully lifted 85kg and 87kg, and her final snatch score was 87kg. This effort enabled her to go for the podium finish.
In the clean and jerk section, Bindyarani did not get off to an ideal start, failing to lift 110kg properly, which put further pressure on the Indian weightlifter. However, she made up for her error by lifting 112kg in the next attempt. She failed to lift 116kg on her final attempt; however, she did enough to secure the bronze medal.
On Sunday, Rishikanta Singh (silver), Mirabai Chanu (gold) and Raja Muthupandi (silver) got India up and running in weightlifting, and the contingent received further boost on Monday with the silver medal win by Gyaneshwari Yadav.
Bindyarani’s meteoric rise
She announced herself by winning the IWLF Youth National Championships in 2016, then added another major title, gold at the Khelo India Youth Games in 2019. Competing at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in the same year, she secured the title in the women’s 55kg category with a combined lift of 183kg, made up of 78kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk.
The defining moment of Bindyarani’s career arrived at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. After being third in the snatch phase, she produced a remarkable response in the clean and jerk, successfully lifting 116kg. The effort took her overall total to 202kg, enough to secure the silver medal in the women’s 55kg competition.
At the 2025 National Games, she claimed gold in the women’s 55kg division and rewrote the record books. Her 88kg snatch surpassed the previous national mark held by Mirabai Chanu, and she also set new national records in clean and jerk and overall total. Later in the season, she embraced a fresh challenge by moving to the 58kg category.
