Berhampur (Odisha), May 24: Five weightlifters from Odisha, including three girls, have been selected to participate in the prestigious Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships (senior, junior and youth) to be held at Apia, Samoa from June 4 to 9.
While Tikina Gopal and Minati Sethi will participate in the 53 kg and 58 kg categories respectively, in the senior women, Subhasmita Mohanty will take part in the 63 kg category in youth girl's championship, General Secretary of Odisha Weightlifting Association (OWA) Narayan Sahu said here.
Similarly Arun Santa will participate in 56 kg category in Junior Boys championship, Achyutananda Sahoo will take part in the 62 kg category in junior men championship, Sahu said.
All these weightlifters had also participated in last year's Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship held at Cape Town in South Africa and won several medals including gold.
There are 44 weightlifters -- 21 girls and 23 boys— from the country selected to take part in different categories in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship, said Sahu, who is also the vice president of Indian Weightlifting Federation.
Commonwealth games gold medalist K Ravi Kumar of Odisha, however, will not participate in this event in view of the Olympics. Ravi Kumar and Soniya Chanu will represent the country in the Olympic Games to be held in London from July 27 to August 12 next.
