Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Indian weightlifter Harjinder Kaur after she clinched the silver medal in the women’s 69kg event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
In a post on X, the Prime Minister said, “Congratulations to Harjinder Kaur for winning a Silver in the Women’s 69 kg event at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Also noteworthy is the fact that her performance yesterday was a personal best. It is gladdening to see our weightlifters perform so well in the Games. My best wishes to Harjinder for her future endeavours.”
Harjinder secured the silver medal with a combined lift of 227kg, comprising 101kg in the snatch and 126kg in the clean and jerk, marking the best performance of her career.
Canada’s Charlotte Simoneau claimed the gold medal with a total lift of 235kg, while Australia’s Nya Phebe Hayman took bronze with 218kg.
Harjinder remained in medal contention throughout the competition and delivered a composed performance under pressure. She successfully opened with 96kg in the snatch before lifting 99kg and then 101kg, rewriting the Commonwealth Games record twice during the snatch competition and taking the lead heading into the clean and jerk.
In the clean and jerk, the Punjab lifter opened confidently with 120kg before producing a successful lift of 126kg on her final attempt, finishing with a personal-best total of 227kg to secure second place. Simoneau eventually reclaimed the lead with a decisive final lift to seal the gold medal.
The silver medal marked a significant milestone for Harjinder, improving on the bronze medal she won at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and giving her a second successive Commonwealth Games podium finish.
Born on October 14, 1996, in Mehas village near Nabha in Punjab, Harjinder comes from a modest landless farming family and grew up in a single-room house. Financial hardships marked her early years, with her father struggling to support her sporting ambitions.
Long before she entered a gym, Harjinder spent hours each day operating a manual chaff-cutting machine to prepare fodder for the family’s cattle. The physically demanding work inadvertently developed the upper-body strength that would later become one of her greatest assets as a weightlifter.
Interestingly, Harjinder did not begin her sporting journey as a weightlifter. She was initially a Kabaddi player, regularly cycling five kilometres to attend training sessions. It was only in 2016, at the age of 20, while studying at Punjabi University in Patiala, that she switched to weightlifting—a decision that transformed her sporting career.
Harjinder’s silver further bolstered India’s impressive medal haul in weightlifting, a discipline that has consistently delivered success for the country at the Commonwealth Games.
India has now won seven medals in weightlifting at the Glasgow Games—one gold, five silver and one bronze. Olympic champion Mirabai Chanu secured the gold medal in the women’s 49kg category, while Rishikanta Singh Chanambam, Raja Muthupandi, Gyaneshwari Yadav, Valluri Ajaya Babu and Harjinder Kaur claimed silver medals. Bindyarani Devi Sorokhaibam won the bronze.
(With agency inputs)
