When Prince Charles wanted to know 'mantra of lifters success'

Some Indian weightlifters had the experience of a lifetime while training at the Commonwealth Games Village when Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to them and asked "the mantra of their success".

Some Indian weightlifters had the experience of a lifetime while training at the Commonwealth Games Village when Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to them and asked "the mantra of their success".

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Indian weightlifting team manager Srinivas Rao said that Prince Charles met women lifters Renubala Devi, Sandhya Rani and Monika Devi after he meeting the England team at the Games Village training center on Sunday.

"We saw Prince Charles meeting the England weightlifting team at the training center. But to our surprise, he also came to the area where our lifters were training and shook hands with us. He asked Renubala Devi (who is defending her 58kg gold medal) what was the mantra of the Indian lifters' success," Rao said.

"Renubala could not comprehend what was Prince Charles saying and so I explained to her. Later, the Prince said he knew Indian is doing well in weightlifting," Rao added.

Rao said the Prince's wife Camilla Parker, who accompanied him, also greeted the Indian weightlifters and wish them luck.

"She said 'it's nice, wonderful' when she saw our players lifting the weights," Rao said.

"The Prince and his wife spent for around 20 minutes at the training arena and they seemed to be happy with the facilities," he said.

Prince Charles last night inaugurated the Commonwealth Games jointly with Indian President Pratibha Patil.