18-YO weightlifter shatters national record

Competing in the junior world championships, teenage Indian weightlifter Maibam Martina Devi on Friday smashed the senior national record in clean and jerk as well as total lift in the women's +87kg weight category in a stunning performance in Leon, Spain.

The 18-year-old from Manipur also bettered her own junior national record in snatch. She, however, could not finish on the podium in all the three sections.

Devi lifted 101kg in snatch to finish sixth in the seven-woman field and in the process bettered her own earlier junior national record of 95kg set in July last year in Greater Noida by 6kg. She missed the snatch senior national record of 104kg -- which is currently in the name of Purnima Pandey -- by 3kg.

Then she lifted 136kg in clean and jerk which was 8kg better than the earlier senior national record of 128kg which was in the name of Manpreet Kaur of Punjab. She finished fifth in the competition.

Devi's earlier best -- also junior national record -- in clean and jerk is 123kg. That meant she lifted 13kg more than her previous best in clean and jerk.

Devi's total lift of 237kg -- for a sixth-place finish -- was 6kg more than the earlier national senior record of 231kg which was in the name of Ann Mariya M T of Kerala. Her earlier best in total lift -- also junior national record -- was 218kg. She thus improved her total lift by 19kgs.