Harshada Sharad Garud Wins 1st Gold Medal At IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championship

Harshada Sharad Garud created history at the IWF Junior World Championships in Heraklion, Greece, by becoming the first Indian woman to win gold. 

Highlights:

• With 153 kilos lifted, she won the 45-kilogram weight category, including 70 kilograms in Snatch and 83 kilograms in Clean and Jerk.

• On the first day of the competition, Garud led India to a medal, leaving eight competitors behind. Turkey's Bektas Cansu took silver, while Moldova's Teodora-Luminita Hincu bronze.

• Anjali Patel, the second Indian in the same weight division, finished sixth with 148 kilos, including 67 kgs in snatch and 81 kgs in clean and jerk.

• Harshada Sharad Garud won the under-17 girls' title in the 2020 Khelo India Youth Games, becoming the first Indian weightlifter to earn a gold medal at the IWF Junior World Championship 2022.

• Harshada began weightlifting at the age of 12 after her father, Sharad Garud, a state-level weightlifter, encouraged her.