Hard-earned yet heartbreaking: Lovepreet falls 1kg short of perfect ending

Lovepreet Singh fails to lift as he competes in the men's +110kg Weightlifting Final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Thursday, July 30, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP To hold a 10kg lead in the snatch and yet lose the gold medal by a mere 1Kg in the end is enough to leave any weightlifter shattered. That was the heartbreak India’s Lovepreet Singh endured in the men’s +110kg super-heavyweight competition of the Commonwealth Games at the Scottish Event Campus on Thursday (July 30, 2026).The 29-year-old Indian, a bronze medallist (109Kg) at the 2022 Birmingham Games, fought like a lion throughout the contest, refusing to surrender even as the battle swung dramatically in the clean and jerk. Lovepreet won silver medal with a total of 388kg behind New Zealand’s David Andrew Liti who lifted 399Kg.His grit and determination notwithstanding, Lovepreet was ultimately denied the gold by an athlete of greater experience and pedigree—David Andrew Liti, the New Zealander who is a two-time Olympian and a much experienced lifter.Liti produced a timely and a magnificent clean and jerk to snatch victory by the tiniest of margins, leaving Lovepreet with a hard-earned but heartbreaking silver medal.The 29-year-old Indian produced a sensational performance on the day, dominating the snatch section. He cleared all three attempts—168kg, 173kg and 176kg — with the final lift setting a new Games record. With his best clean and jerk at 212Kg, Lovepreet finished with a total of 388Kg. New Zealand’s Liti produced a total lift of 389Kg, setting a new Games record (snatch: 166 and clean and jerk: 223) to bag the gold.The contest took a dramatic turn when pre-event favourite Sanele Mao of Samoa failed in all three attempts at 175kg in the snatch, eliminating him from the competition. That opened the door for Lovepreet, who immediately grabbed the opportunity by lifting 176kg and establishing himself as the leader.At the end of the snatch rounds, Lovepreet held a commanding 10kg lead over Liti, putting the former firmly in the driver’s seat for the gold medal.But it was anything but straightforward in the clean and jerk, which developed into a riveting duel between the two heavyweights. Liti turned the contest on its head with a performance that was as outstanding as it was breathtaking. After Lovepreet successfully lifted 212kg on his second attempt and failing at 217kg on his third, the 30-year-old New Zealander responded in emphatic fashion, hoisting 223kg on his second lift to set a new Commonwealth Games record and snatch the gold medal by a solitary kilogram. Then, Liti held his index finger aloft, a quiet celebration indication that he stood above the rest.Despite the heartbreak, it was an exceptional performance from Lovepreet, who never backed away from the challenge and kept pushing the champion until the very end. The Indian displayed immense courage and fighting spirit, producing a memorable contest that provided a fitting end to the weightlifting competition. “I should have finished it off inthe clean and jerk. It was a costly miss,” Lovepreet kept repeating to the mediapersons.For someone who has had a difficult upbringing in Amritsar, where his father worked as a tailor and his mother a homemaker, Lovepreet Singh, now employed with Indian Navy, has come a long way. To support his family, he sold vegetables and even worked as a ‘Ghodiwala’ at weddings, leading the horse at marriage processions.On this day, though, he fell just one kilogram short of a perfect ending. All said and done, Lovepreet left with his head held high, having made the country proud. Published - July 31, 2026 01:12 pm IST