Sanket Mahadev Sargar is an Indian weightlifter who holds the national and Commonwealth record of 256 kg in the men’s 55 kg weight class. At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he bagged a silver medal with a total lift of 248 kg.
Wiki/Biography
Sanket Mahadev Sargar was born on Monday, 16 October 2000 (age 22 years; as of 2022), and he hails from Sangli, Maharashtra. His zodiac sign is Libra. While talking about the onset of his passion for weightlifting in an interview, he said,
The children in our locality hardly play any other sport. I got into weightlifting when I was 13.”
In 2012, his father enrolled him in Digvijay Weightlifting Centre, run by weightlifting coach Nana Sinhasane, which was located near their tea stall. While describing his hectic schedule in an interview, Sanket said,
While I started weight-lifting training, I also had to help him at the tea stall. My day would start at 6 am at the shop, where I would prepare the items for the day before going for my training. After school, I would manage the paan joint also.”
He attended Shivaji University Kolhapur, Maharashtra. From 2017 to 2021, Nana Sinhasane’s son, Mayur Sinhasane, started training Sanket. Before joining the national weightlifting camp in Patiala, Sargar aided his parents in running the family-owned tea stall in Sangli. In Patiala, he started training under Vijay Sharma and Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Body Measurements (approx.): Chest: 40 Inches, Waist: 34 Inches, Biceps: 16 Inches
Family
Parents & Siblings
Sanket Mahadev Sargar’s father’s name is Mahadev Sargar. Together, his parents run a tea stall-cum-paan joint in Sangli, Maharashtra. While talking about his humble background in an interview, Sanket’s father said,
I used to tell him that my father used to sell bananas and I sell tea and pakoda. So dream big.”
Sanket’s parents at the tea stall in Sangli
His sister, Kajol Sargar, is also a weightlifter who won a gold medal at the Khelo India Youth Games (2022) in the women’s 40kg category. As of 2022, she is a science student at Smt. Kasturbai Walchand College in Sangli, Maharashtra.
Sanket Mahadev Sargar’s sister, Kajol Sargar
Wife & Children
Sanket Mahadev Sargar is unmarried (as of 2022).
Medals
Gold
- 2017 Maharashtra Junior Weightlifting Championship with a total lift of 194 Kgs in the 49 kg weight category including 86 kg in snatch and 108 kg in clean and jerk
- 2020 Khelo India University Games (Bhubaneswar) with a total lift of 244kg
- 2020 Khelo India Youth Games U-21 (Guwahati) with a total lift of 239kg
- 2020 IWLF Youth, Junior & Senior National Weightlifting Championships (Kolkata) with a total life of 243kg
- 2021 IWLF Youth, Junior & Senior National Weightlifting Championships (Patiala) with a total lift of 247Kgs
- 2021 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships (Tashkent) in the 55kg snatch category with a weight of 113kg (national record)
- 2022 IWLF Youth, Junior & Senior National Weightlifting Championships (Bhubaneswar) in the 55 kg category with a lift of 249kg
- 2022 Singapore International Weightlifting Meet with a total lift of 256kg (commonwealth and national record), including 113kg in snatch and 143 kg in clean and jerk.
Silver
- 2022 Commonwealth Games (Birmingham) in the 55 kg category with a total lift of 248 kilograms, 113 in the snatch and 135 in the clean and jerk
Sanket Mahadev Sargar (left) wearing his silver medal at Commonwealth Games 2022
Bronze
- 2018 IWLF Youth Nationals Visakhapatnam in the n 50kg category with a total lift of 182kg
Facts/Trivia
- On Sanket’s win in CWG 2022, his father said that he would be displaying his medal at the tea stall. He said,
I tried my best to provide the best facilities to my children to grow and succeed. We have kept the medal that Kajol won at our tea shop. Now, a place is reserved for Sanket’s medal.”
- Sanket first dreamt about winning a Commonwealth Games medal in 2018 when he watched Indian weightlifter Gururaja Poojary’s performance at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on TV while managing the tea stall; she won a silver medal at the games.
- Mayur sent him a barbell and squat set to train at home when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted Sanket’s training. At home, Sanket used to train on the first floor and suffered a back injury at that time. Aghast by the back injury and loss in the family business due to the lockdown, Sanket entertained thoughts of quitting the sport. In an interview, he said,
It was a time (lockdown) when I thought about quitting the sport. There was almost no business at my father’s tea-stall and the practice at home meant that I suffered a back injury. But my father kept motivating me by showing old newspaper clips of my medal winning performances.”
- Upon his arrival in Bhubaneswar for competing in the 2022 IWLF Youth, Junior & Senior National Weightlifting Championships, he discovered that he weighed 1.7 kilos more than the permissible limit. Consequently, he went on a crash diet to lose extra weight.
- During his third attempt in clean and jerk at Commonwealth Games 2022, Sanket failed to lift a weight of 139 kg and suffered an injury on his right hand.
- In an interview, after CWG 2022, he expressed his desire to compete in the 61kg category in the 2024 Olympics and said,
I want to make it to the 2024 Olympics and will have to move to 61kg. It will be a huge jump and it will take me two years to be fully prepared for it, but I’m determined to get there.”
