Sloppy Soniya seventh

Soniya Chan­u failed to keep up her promise and ended seventh in the women’s 48kg weightlifting event at the Olympic Games on Friday.

Chanu had stated that she would come up with her career-best show at the Olympic Games but a familiar picture emerged at the ExCel arena.

The 32-year-old Indian could lift only 171kgs as against her personal best of 175kgs in the event won by Wang Mingjuan of China with a total of 205kg (91kg in snatch, 114kg in clean and jerk).

Chanu started with 73kg in snatch and then lifted 74kg in her second attempt. She seemed to have hoisted 75kg cleanly in the third attempt but the judges ruled differently, forcing her to settle for 74kg.

In clean and jerk, started with a clean lift of 93kg before faltering at 97 in her second attempt. A clutch effort helped her to lift that in the final attempt, leaving her with a less than satisfactory total.

India have one more competitor left in weightlifting -- K Ravi Kumar in men’s 69kg class.