Ajaya wins CWG silver in 79kg weightlifting

Fast-rising Indian weightlifter Valluri Ajaya Babu produced a remarkable performance to win the silver medal in the men’s 79kg category and continue the country’s successful run in the sport at the ongoing Commonwealth Games here.

The 21-year-old from Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district lifted a Games record 149kg in snatch and 181kg in clean and jerk for a total of 330kg to win the second prize, narrowly missing out on gold to Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who totalled a Games record 331kg (147 + 184) during a gripping contest on Monday night.

This was India’s sixth medal in weightlifting in the current edition of the Games.

England’s Chris Murray settled for bronze with a total of 325. First, Hidayat lifted 181kg to smash the Games record, the Indian then bettered it within seconds by lifting 181kg in his final attempt to break the record again for 330kg.

Hidayat did one better, breaking the record again with a lift of 184kg in his final attempt to win the gold medal. Earlier, after a failed second attempt at 149kg, Ajaya Babu made a fine comeback to lift the weight in his final try and set a new Games record, finishing at the top of the heap at the end of the snatch section ahead of England’s Chris Murray (148kg) and Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad (147kg).

He had 145kg listed as his first attempt and nailed it too easily. Entering the clean and jerk section on a high, Ajaya Babu looked confident of winning the top prize but his opponent from Malaysia edged the Indian out eventually. Seen as one of India’s fastest-growing lifters, Ajaya Babu had in the past won the gold medal in the men’s 79kg category at the 2025 Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad with a personal-best total lift of 335kg (152kg snatch + 183kg clean & jerk), breaking the championship records. That performance earned him his direct qualification spot for Glasgow 2026. In the 2024 Commonwealth Championships, he secured double gold medals across both the junior and senior divisions in the men’s 81kg category in Suva, Fiji.

After that, in the 2025 World Championships, the youngster was placed 16th overall in a highly competitive 39-lifter field in Forde, Norway.