Asian Para Games medallist Sudhir and Jaideep, who represented India at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, clinched gold medals as Haryana topped the medals table with six gold medals at the 19th Senior and 14th Junior National Para Powerlifting Championship 2022 held at Netaji Subhas Eastern Centre, Kolkata.Overall Haryana won 11 medals that also included three bronze and two silver. Haryana was followed by Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi and UP with three gold medals each.In the men's under 88kg category, Sudhir lifted an impressive 232kg enough to take the gold way ahead of Delhi's Joginder Singh (150kg) and Bihar's Mahan Aditya (145KG).Jaideep, competing in men's under 72kg, lifted 151kg for the gold finishing ahead of Gujarat's Ramubhai Bambhava (150kg) and Delhi's Kuldeep Kumar (146kg).
The other gold medallists for Haryana were Ashok (men's -65kg), Deepak (men's -80kg), Pradeep Joon (men's -107kg) and Geeta (women's -73kg).
In men's under 49kg finals, World Championships medallist Paramjeet Kumar from Punjab came out with one of his best shows lifting 165kg for the gold. His lift was way ahead of his Worlds bronze medal effort as he finished ahead of Gujarat's Dilip Shukla (118kg) and Delhi's Gulfam Ahmed (118kg).Seasoned powerlifter Farman Basha, an Asian Para Games medallist, was also in action representing Karnataka claiming the gold in men's under 54kg event.In the women's event, Asian Para Games silver medallist Shakina Khatun of Karnataka took the under 50kg event gold with her third successful lift of 95kg. Tamil Nadu's Gomathi (58KG) and Sapna Shah of Gujarat (52kg) finished second and third, respectively.Otherwise, it was powerlifters from Rajasthan and Punjab who claimed two gold medals each in women's events.The National Championships was held by Bengal Paralympic Association under the aegis of the Paralympic Committee of India.