India’s Nirupama Devi saw her Commonwealth Games medal hopes come to a heartbreaking end after she failed to register a total in the women’s 63kg weightlifting event on Tuesday. The Commonwealth Championships silver medalist looked good in contention after the snatch but suffered a dramatic collapse in the clean and jerk, failing all three attempts to record a Did Not Finish (DNF).
The promising start ends in disappointment
Nirupama started the competition with a failed lift of 93kg in the snatch before recovering to clear the same weight in her second attempt. He then tried 95 kg, but was unable to finish the lift, finishing the opening discipline with a best of 93 kg. Her effort placed her fifth after the snatch, keeping her firmly in the running for the medal with the clean and jerk still to come.The 22-year-old, who claimed silver at the 2025 Commonwealth Championships with a combined lift of 217kg (91kg + 126kg), needed a strong showing in her favorite discipline to challenge for the podium.
Three elevators failed
In any case, the clean and proved to be a disaster for the Indian lifter. Opening at 123kg, four kilograms below the 127kg he had successfully lifted at the National Championships earlier this year, Nirupama failed to complete the lift in all three attempts. Without a successful climb in the clean and jerk, he was unable to register a total, ending his campaign without a ranking despite remaining in the medal dispute after the snatch.Maude Charron rewrite the record books While Nirupama suffered the disappointment, Canada’s Maude Charron also underlined her dominance in the weight category. The Tokyo Olympic champion broke Commonwealth Games records in both disciplines, lifting 102kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean and jerk to finish with a record total of 232kg and claim his third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal.England’s Sarah Davies Smale secured the silver medal with 217kg (95kg + 122kg), while 17-year-old Femily-Crystie Notte of Nauru claimed bronze with 216kg (100kg + 116kg).Despite Nirupama’s exit, weightlifting has still been India’s most important sport at the Commonwealth Games 2026. Six of the country’s 10 medals so far have come from weightlifting.
India’s heavyweight medalists at CWG 2026
| Athlete | event | medal | Performance details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mirabai Chanu | Female 48 kg | Gold | Raised a Games-record total of 190 kg (85 kg snatch + 105 kg clean & jerk) to hit her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal. |
| Chanambam Rishikanta Singh | 60 kg male | Silver | Registered in total lift of 264 kg (121 kg snatch + 143 kg clean & jerk). |
| Raja Muthupandi | 65 kg male | Silver | Finished with a combined lift of 286 kg (126 kg snatch + 160 kg clean & jerk). |
| Gyaneshwari Yadav | 53 kg female | Silver | Registered a total lift of 199 kg (88 kg snatch + 111 kg clean & jerk). |
| Valluri Ajaya Babu | 79 kg male | Silver | Raised a a total of 330 kg (149 kg snatch + 181 kg clean & jerk)put a Commonwealth Games record in the snatch. |
| Bindyarani Devi | 58 kg female | bronze | Claimed bronze with a total lift of 199 kg (87 kg snatch + 112 kg clean & jerk). |