CWG 2026: Nirupama Devi Seram Bows Out Of The Women’s Weighlifting 63 kg Final

Indian weightlifter Nirupama Devi Seram bowed out of the women’s weightlifting 63 kg finals after she failed to lift 123 kg in the clean and jerk category. She ended her campaign with a DNF next to her name – marking the first instance of an Indian weightlifter failing to secure a medal at the Glasgow 2026 CWG.

The Gold medal went to Maude Charron of Canada, who is also a Tokyo Olympics medalist. Charron even set a Games record with a total lift of 232 kg (snatch + clean & jerk). The silver medal went to England’s Sarah Davies Smale, while the bronze medal went to emerging weightlifter Femily-Crystie Notte of Nauru, who was making her CWG debut at the age of 17.

Nirupama, who had won a silver medal at last year’s Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad with a total lift of 217kg (91kg+126kg), opened her campaign in the snatch with a failed attempt at 93kg. She successfully lifted the same weight in her second attempt before her 95kg attempt failed in her final lift. Her best lift of 93kg left her fifth at the end of the snatch round, with four lifters ahead of her. Despite being placed fifth after the snatch, Nirupama remained well in medal contention.

However, the Indian lifter had a disappointing clean and jerk. Attempting 123kg, a weight below the 127kg she had successfully lifted at the National Championships earlier this year, Nirupama failed on all three attempts, ending her campaign without a total.

Did The Aggressive Medal Hunt Cost Nirupama Devi?

The Clean & Jerk segment saw the Indian camp adopt an aggressive approach in the race for a medal. Nirupama had initially planned to begin with a safer 115kg attempt, but after rivals Sarah Davies Smale of England and Femily-Crystie Notte of Nauru posted strong numbers, the team raised her opening weight to 123kg in an effort to stay in the bronze medal battle.

However, the ambitious jump proved costly. Nirupama failed to complete her opening attempt at 123kg after struggling to find her rhythm and maintain control during the lift. Although she had lifted 123kg previously, she was unable to recover in her following attempts. As a result she failed to register a successful Clean & Jerk.

As per competition rules, not recording a valid lift in either of the three Clean & Jerk attempts resulted in a Did Not Finish (DNF) classification, bringing an unfortunate end to what had been a competitive outing for the Indian weightlifter.

With inputs from PTI