India's weightlifting campaign at the 2026 Commonwealth Games ended with yet another silver medal as Lovepreet Singh finished runner-up in the men's 110kg+ final in Glasgow on Thursday. The 28-year-old upgraded the bronze medal he won at the Birmingham Games in 2022 to silver, earning India's sixth silver medal in weightlifting and helping the contingent sign off with eight medals overall.
For much of the contest, Lovepreet looked destined to finish on the top step of the podium. A brilliant 176kg effort in his third snatch attempt saw him shatter the Commonwealth Games record and hand him a commanding 10kg lead heading into the clean and jerk, with New Zealand's David Andrew Liti his closest challenger at 166kg.
Lovepreet strengthened his grip on gold after lifting 212kg in his second clean and jerk attempt, taking his total to a Games-record 388kg. Even though he failed to improve with a 217kg attempt, the Indian still appeared comfortably placed with England's Andre Griffiths trailing on 356kg.
Commonwealth Games 2026, LIVE Updates Day 8
But Liti produced the performance of the evening. After successfully lifting 207kg in his opening clean and jerk attempt, the New Zealander gambled with a modest 16-kilo increase to 233kg. He completed the lift with ease, taking his total to 389kg to edge Lovepreet by a solitary kilogram and snatch the gold in dramatic fashion.
{{/usCountry}}But Liti produced the performance of the evening. After successfully lifting 207kg in his opening clean and jerk attempt, the New Zealander gambled with a modest 16-kilo increase to 233kg. He completed the lift with ease, taking his total to 389kg to edge Lovepreet by a solitary kilogram and snatch the gold in dramatic fashion.
{{/usCountry}}Lovepreet had started the competition in equally dominant fashion, clearing 168kg and 173kg before rewriting the Games record with his 176kg final snatch. He also benefited from a major upset as pre-event favourite Sanelo Mao of Samoa failed all three of his 175kg snatch attempts, crashing out of medal contention.
India concluded its weightlifting campaign with eight medals from 11 lifters—one gold, six silver and one bronze. The men's contingent returned with a perfect medal haul, while Mirabai Chanu remained India's only gold medallist among the women after completing a Commonwealth Games hat-trick in the 48kg category. Rishikanta Singh (60kg), Muthupandi Raja (65kg), Ajaya Babu (79kg), Gyaneshwari Yadav (53kg), Harjinder Kaur (58kg) and Lovepreet all won silver, while Bindyarani Devi claimed bronze in the women's 58kg event.
Heartbreak for Martina Devi
Earlier in the evening, 18-year-old Martina Devi endured a heartbreaking Commonwealth Games debut, narrowly missing out on a medal in the women's 86kg category. The Manipuri lifter finished fourth with a combined lift of 245kg (105kg snatch, 140kg clean and jerk), level with New Zealand's Tui-Alofa Patolo but losing out on countback after recording more failed attempts.
Martina's campaign almost ended before it began. After failing her opening two snatch attempts at 103kg, India head coach Vijay Sharma made the bold decision to increase the final attempt to 105kg rather than repeat the weight. Martina responded under immense pressure, producing a successful lift before breaking down in tears.
She then entered the clean and jerk at 140kg—the second-highest declared opening weight in the field—and cleared it comfortably on her first attempt. However, unsuccessful lifts at 144kg and 146kg ended her hopes of a podium finish.
England's two-time Olympic medallist Emily Campbell successfully defended her Commonwealth title in dominant fashion, breaking the Games and Commonwealth clean and jerk record en route to gold with a total of 278kg (115kg snatch, 163kg clean and jerk). Malaysia's Siti Aqilah Farhana Draman took silver with 253kg, while Canada's Etta Mae Love secured bronze with 250kg.