Panchkula. Kajol Sargar, the daughter of a tea stall owner, took up the sport three years ago. She used to visit a local gymnasium to see her elder brother Sanket as a lifter. The 16-year-old from Sangli in Maharashtra also watched in amazement as he continued to rise in the ranks to become one of India’s top lifters, but that didn’t completely motivate him to take up the sport. Everything changed in 2019, when he saw Roopa Hongdi from Sangli, who won a gold medal at the Khelo India Youth Games in Pune. Kajol Sargar said after becoming the first gold medalist at the Khelo India Youth Games 2021 here on Sunday, “My brother is five years older than me. I’ve never talked to him about the game before.” He revealed, “It was only after knowing about Roopa Hongandi’s success at Khelo India Youth Games that I felt that I should try weightlifting too.”
Kajol topped the medal tally of Maharashtra by lifting a total of 113kg in the women’s 40kg category. Kajol could only manage 50kg and in her third attempt, she fell behind Rekhamoni Gogoi of Assam, who lifted two kilograms more in the clean and jerk. But she rose to the top of the podium by lifting 60kg and 63kg in clean and jerk. Rekhamoni (109kg, 52kg snatch, 57kg clean and jerk) slipped to third place as Sandia Gungli of Arunachal Pradesh won the silver medal with a total of 111kg (47kg snatch, 63kg clean and jerk).
Kajol won a bronze medal at the Youth Nationals in Patiala in August 2021, but a wrist injury earlier this year forced her to reassess her goals for the year.