By Harpal Singh Bedi
Mizoram teenager Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who did India proud by winning country’s and the weightlifting squad’s second gold in the 67kg his first Commonwealth Games (CWG) at Birmingham, says that he was thrilled with the response he received from everyone around him “I couldn’t do as much as I expected myself to do in clean and jerk but I am very happy for all the love that I have received from back home. There were so many who came to see me here in the stadium as well and I just want to say thank you to everyone.”
The CWG Gold medalist was given a pep talk by Mirabai Chanu, prior to his competition and that inspired him to go for gold. He said, “Didi (Mirabai Chanu) motivates me a lot. Before going into the competition, she met me and inspired me to do good. She was cheering for me from the very first row. I got to learn so many things from her whether it was about hard work and her journey to the Olympics and all. She guides us every time.”
“After youth Olympics, I haven’t achieved such a big thing like this. This is my first medal at senior level competition and I have had to face a few injuries. People kept asking me, when are you going to bring medals after the youth Olympics. And I kept working hard to win a medal for my country. I couldn’t give the performance as I expected but I’ve achieved what I wanted to.” he said
Jeremy said he was determined to lift the weights even though he was struggling with a cramp in his lower back. But facing injuries comes with the package for an athlete and Jeremy had this to say, “I’ll recover very quickly from my latest injury, there’s a minor muscle issue and will be ready for the next tournament soon.”
He dedicated his victory to his grandparents. “My Dada and Dadi used to always pray for me. My Dada left me before I left for Youth Olympics and my Dadi left me post that and I couldn’t be home both times. I know that before every lift I follow everything that they told me to say and that’s why I dedicated my medal to them.”
Jeremy motivated himself to win gold at the CWG by keeping the medal as his mobile wallpaper and is now set to take things up a notch and continue to work hard to give his best for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.