The silver medal was finally around Muthupandi Raja’s neck. But, the first weight he felt was the gold that had slipped from his grasp.
For a lifter who had spent years rebuilding after injury and the disappointment of missing Birmingham 2022, Glasgow delivered a significant first: his maiden Commonwealth Games medal.
Yet, the 26-year-old’s immediate reaction was shaped less by the colour he had won than by the standard he believed he had failed to reproduce.
“I did not perform well enough for gold because it was not my best compared with what I had done in training. But I feel good about the silver medal. I gave my best,” Raja told the media after his event.
Raja finished second in the men’s 65kg event on Sunday with a total of 286kg, built on a 126kg snatch and a 160kg clean and jerk. Malaysia’s Muhamad Aznil Bidin won gold with a Games-record total of 299kg, completing a hat-trick of Commonwealth Games titles, while Papua New Guinea’s Morea Baru took bronze.
MORE DETAILS | Raja clinches silver medal in 65 kg weightlifting
The Indian managed only two successful lifts from his six attempts. After missing 126kg with his opening snatch, he returned to complete it on his second attempt. In the clean and jerk, he lost his balance after getting 158kg overhead in his opener, recovered to lift 160kg on his second attempt and then failed at 165kg.
The result fell well short of what he had produced at the National Championships in Modinagar in February. There, Raja had won the 65kg title with a national-record total of 302kg – 130kg in the snatch and 172kg in the clean and jerk. A repeat of that performance would have put him beyond Aznil’s winning mark in Glasgow.
“I’m disappointed in myself,” he said. “My coach Vijay Sharma trusted me to give everything for the gold, but I didn’t perform well. That’s why I’m disappointed.”
“I did not perform well enough for gold because it was not my best compared with what I had done in training. But I feel good about the silver medal. I gave my best,” Raja told the media after his event. | Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI
The silver nevertheless completed a long circle. Raja had made his Commonwealth Games debut as an 18-year-old at Gold Coast 2018, where he finished sixth in the 62kg category with a total of 266kg. The following year, he suffered a serious elbow ligament injury at the Commonwealth Championships in Samoa, beginning a prolonged spell of rehabilitation that was further disrupted by the pandemic.
“Because of the injury, I could not qualify in 2022,” Raja said. “After that, I trained in Modinagar for two years. That is how I prepared for this edition of Commonwealth Games.”
His progress became evident in 2025. He won silver at the Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad with 296kg before lifting 299kg at the World Championships in Forde, where he finished ninth. His 302kg national record earlier this year appeared to have placed him firmly in the gold-medal conversation for Glasgow.
Raja’s journey began in Sankaralingapuram near Kovilpatti, where his father, a daily-wage truck loader, introduced him to weightlifting when he was around 12. Raja entered a Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre in 2014, joined the national camp in 2016 and began working under Vijay Sharma. Since 2018, he has also been employed by Indian Railways in Chennai.
Asked what Glasgow had taught him as he looked towards the Asian Games, Raja offered no elaborate assessment.
“I don’t want to say much. I just have to work hard in training. That is all I have learnt from here. I must work harder,” he said.
He dedicated the win to his parents and Sharma and said his attention would now return to training.
Glasgow had given him proof that the long road back had reached the Commonwealth podium. It has also left him with a gap to close before his next major test.
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Published on Jul 27, 2026