Daijiworld Media Network - Forde
Forde, Oct 7: Indian weightlifter Ajaya Babu Valluri, a rising star and recent Commonwealth champion, secured 16th place in the men’s 79kg category at the 2025 World Weightlifting Championships on Tuesday, delivering a solid if unspectacular performance in his Group C outing.
The 20-year-old lifted a combined total of 323kg — 146kg in snatch and 177kg in clean and jerk — out of a field of 39 lifters. However, the total fell 12kg short of his personal best and gold-medal-winning performance of 335kg at the Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad earlier this year.
Ajaya started strong in Forde, successfully completing his opening snatch attempt of 146kg. But back-to-back failures at 150kg hampered his momentum. In the clean and jerk, he cleared 172kg and 177kg but missed his final lift at 180kg, preventing a potential climb in the standings.
Despite the dip from his August form, Ajaya's earlier achievement in Ahmedabad has already earned him a ticket to the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The event also saw standout performances at the top. Indonesia’s Rizki Juniansyah, Olympic gold medallist in the 73kg category at Paris 2024, dominated the field with a world record lift of 204kg in clean and jerk, finishing with a combined total of 361kg after a 162kg snatch.
The battle for silver and bronze was razor-tight. Ri Chong-song of North Korea claimed silver with a total of 360kg (163kg + 197kg), while Egypt’s Mohamed Younes secured bronze on countback with an identical total (162kg + 198kg).
Earlier in the competition, Mirabai Chanu made headlines by clinching silver in the women’s 48kg category, lifting a total of 199kg (84kg + 115kg) — India’s only medal at the World Championships so far.
In the women’s 63kg division, Nirupama Devi finished ninth with a respectable total of 216kg, registering 93kg in the snatch and 123kg in the clean and jerk.
While Ajaya may not have reached the podium this time, his consistency at the international level and early qualification for the Commonwealth Games mark him as a promising name in Indian weightlifting’s next generation.