There are numbers that tell a story, and then there are stories that make the numbers matter.On Sunday at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, India added three more medals to its weightlifting tally. Mirabai Chanu once again stood atop the podium, winning a record-breaking gold in the women's 48kg category. A few hours later, Chanambam Rishikanta Singh and Muthupandi Raja added silver medals in the men's 60kg and 65kg events respectively.The medal count will be remembered. But what made the day special was that the three podium finishes represented three very different battles that had been fought long before the athletes walked onto the competition platform.Mirabai has spent over a decade carrying the weight of expectation. Every time she competes, the question is not whether she will medal, but whether she will dominate. Since becoming India's first Olympic silver medallist in weightlifting, the Manipuri has lived under the constant pressure of remaining the country's standard-bearer, returning from injuries time and again to prove she still belongs at the summit. In Glasgow, she did exactly that, rewriting Commonwealth Games records to claim a third straight gold medal.For Rishikanta and Muthupandi, however, simply reaching the Commonwealth Games was a victory in itself.Years before becoming one of India's brightest weightlifting prospects, Rishikanta had walked away from the sport.Financial realities forced him into daily-wage work, earning barely enough to get through each day. The dream of representing India had begun to fade under the weight of survival.But some dreams refuse to disappear.Training opportunities through the Army Sports Institute, the National Institute of Sports and exposure abroad gradually brought him back to elite weightlifting. On Sunday, the man who once left the sport behind returned to the Commonwealth Games platform to produce a Games-record snatch before finishing with a silver medal. It was not just…
This report has been adapted by the PurePlay Sports Desk from coverage by NDTV Sports, The Bridge, The Hindu Sportstar.