Sairaj Pardeshi clinched a bronze medal in the 86kg category during the Asian Junior (men and women) Weightlifting Championships. Pardeshi, who broke three youth national records during his gold medal-winning effort in the Khelo India Youth Games in the 81kg category, lifted a total of 338 kg. He lifted i152kg in snatch and 186kg in clean and jerk.

Pardeshi, who hails from Manmad in Maharashtra, had previously won a gold medal at the 2024 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Doha. In May last year, he had finished fourth in IWF World Youth Championships. He had won a gold medal in the youth section and silver in the senior category of the 2024 Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championships in September.

Pardeshi, whose father is a scrap dealer, has trained at the Sports Authority of India’s National Centre of Excellence in Aurangabad as well as in National Institute for Sports (NIS) in Patiala.