Taj finishes fifth in weightlifting

Day two in Birmingham did not go well for Bangladesh as there were not many moments to cherish across five events from three disciplines.

The best moment was created by Bangladeshi weightlifter Ashikur Rahman TAJ who came closest to a medal in his event. He became fifth in the Men’s 55KG category weightlifting in the 22nd Commonwealth Games at Birmingham on Saturday.

Ashik lifted 93 Kilograms in Snatch and in Clean & Jerk he lifted 118kg, a total of 211 Kilograms. Malaysia’s Mohamad Aniq Bin Qasdan won the gold medal lifting 249 kilograms by setting a games record.

Sanket Mahadev Sargar from India lifted just one KG short of Qasdan and won the silver, Dilanka Isuru Kumara Yodage from Sri Lanka lifted 225 KG and won the bronze medal.

In women’s 49 KG category Bangladesh’s Marjia Akter Ekra lifted 125 Kilograms, 55 KG in Snatch, and 70 Kg in Clean and Jerk. Silver medal winner of Tokyo Olympics in this category, India’s Mirabai Saikhom Chanu competed in Birmingham and she lifted 80 KG in snatch and 105 KG in Clean and Jerk. Marjia finished 10th out of 11.

There was no expectation from Swimming and the swimmers performed exactly the same as expected. Bangladesh participated in two events, women’s 50M freestyle and men’s 100M Breaststroke.

In women’s 50M freestyle, Sonia Khatun came last in her heat with a timing of 30.22 seconds. Overall, 70 swimmers competed in this event where two got disqualified, and out of 68 who finished Sonia finished 61st.

Sukumar Rajbonashi became sixth in his heat for 100 M Brest-stroke, his timing was 1:07.92 which is eight seconds more than the swimmer who finished first. Rajabonashi became 30th out of 36 swimmers.

In Table tennis, Bangladesh moved into the quarterfinals as a group runner-up despite losing to England by 3-0 set in Men’s team event.

Sam Walker / Paul Drinkhall defeated Md Rifat Sabbir / Mufradul by 11-1, 11-5, and 11-6 games in the doubles match.

In singles, Liam Pitchford defeated Mohutasin Ahmed Ridoy by 11-3, 11-8, and 11-3; Paul Drinkhall defeated Mufradul Hamza by 11-2, 11-1, and 11-8.