IWF Youth Championships 2024: Preetismita Bhoi Wins Gold Among India’s Four Medal Winners

At the 2024 IWF World Youth Championships in Lima on Wednesday, Preetismita Bhoi of Odisha took first place in the women’s 40kg Clean & Jerk, while her countrymate Jyoshna Sabar took second place.In the process of winning gold, Bhoi set a new World Record (WR) with a 76 kg lift, and Jyoshna recorded 69 kg in her lifts. Fatma Sena Kolcak of Turkey came in third place with a 65 kg lift.

“I am honoured and thrilled to have set a new world record. This is a dream come true and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my coaches, family, and Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF). I hope this inspires others to pursue their dreams with determination and hard work,”Preetismita explained.

IWLF president Sahdev Yadav explained, “Preetismita is a true role model for aspiring weightlifters,”

At the World Youth Championships in Albania last year, India took home one silver and four bronze medals.

“Getting selected to represent the country in the Youth Championships is an achievement in itself. In the last two years, Odisha has dominated the U14 category,” explained Ravi Kumar, the Odisha Weightlifting Association’s general secretary.

Preetismita trains under the guidance of Gopal Das at the Odisha Weightlifting HPC sub-centre in Dhenkanal, while Jyoshna is a member of HPC Bhubaneshwar, where she is directly supervised by Ravi, a gold medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Preetismita alternates between training at the sub-center and attending Kendriya Vidyalaya under the guidance of Gopal Das. In addition to the training, Jyoshna, who is from the tribal village of Marlaba, receives home-schooling at the Bhubaneshwar institute.

“We had targeted the World Championships this year, in preparation for Youth Olympics and Commonwealth games,” explained Gopal. He explained, “[Preeti] demonstrated a great deal of effort and sacrifice to reach the aim. We were working hard for this [setting the world record].

“A special thanks must be conveyed to Odisha Sports and Youth Services department for their involvement in providing us all the support we need and for considering weightlifting as an avenue for a future Olympic medal,” explained Ravi.

Babulal Hembrom of Jharkhand finished with a lift of 193 kg (86 + 107) in the men’s 49 kg competition, which enabled him win the bronze.

In the Women’s 45kg category, Payal came in second to Colombian Lawren Estrada, earning India its fourth medal.

At the World Youth Championships, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) is testing two platforms for the first time, enabling the men’s and women’s competitions to start concurrently.