BANGALORE, June 8: The eighth and last day of the weightlifting competitions of the National Games belonged to 28-year-old Dalvir Singh, a sub-inspector of Punjab Police, hailing from Kapurthala.

Contesting in the heaviest 108 kg plus category, Dalvir, who has as many as six National and National Games records under his belt, erased his own National snatch record with a lift of 163 kg today. When he was through with his lifts, he had undone the National Games record as many as five times, besides his own newly-set National mark in snatch. The successful 185 kg attempt brought his total to 348 kg. Guruvinder Singh (Services, 140+167.5) and Daljit Singh (J&K, 127.5+167.5) came second and third.

Earlier, Andhra Pradesh's 24-year-old S B Kishore Kumar overcame stiff challenge from Tamil Nadu's R Navaneetha Krishnan to win the men's 108 kg class. It was the failure of the TN lifter to get a proper grip on the bar while attempting the 170 kg jerk, which fetched gold for the AP man. Tamil Nadu coach Thankamoney attributed it to the new shoes to which Krishnan was not used to. ``Krishnan often does 182.5 kg in the practice sessions,'' he said. The 1978 Commonwealth gold medalist Ekambaram Karunakaran, also at the venue, attributed the lifter's failure to the same reason.

In the 108 kg class, Kishore Kumar (130 kg) had conceded a 10-kg advantage to Krishnan (140 kg) in the snatch but overcame that by lifting 182.5 kg in the jerk, which was a new Games mark. However, Krishnan had to settle for 170 kg.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.