KIYG 2025: Daughter of an autorickshaw driver, Asmita Dhone eyes junior world weightlifting medal

Rajgir, May 11 (IANS) Asmita Dattatray Dhone of Maharashtra broke two youth national weightlifting records on her way to clinching gold medal in the 49kg class in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games here at the Rajgir Sports Complex. Dhone shattered her own youth national record in both clean and jerk and overall total set at the Commonwealth Championships in Doha, Qatar, five months back. She had won a silver medal at the 2022 Khelo India Youth Games in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Asmita first breached the 94kg mark with a 95kg lift in clean and jerk to create a youth national record and then added another two kilograms on the barbell to again breach the national record and take her overall total to 170kg, an improvement of 8 kilograms from her Commonwealth Championships performance. Uttar Pradesh’s Mansi Chamunda (75+88) settled for silver with a youth national snatch record, improving upon the mark set by Panchami Sonowal of Assam in 2022.

Hailing from a humble background, Asmita, who turned 18 this month, was born in Karad town of Satara district. Her father Dattatray Dhone drives an autorickshaw and mother Nirmala is a dairy farmer. Asmita began training under Samrat Pawar in her hometown, which she continues to do even today.

“I started lifting weights when I was in Class 7, roughly 14 years of age. My elder sister was also into weightlifting and so her coach Samrat sir told me to also start weightlifting along with her. I am very happy with my performance as I broke the national record,” Asmita told SAI Media.

Asmita Dhone has numerous national and international medals under her belt and that helped her get inducted in both the Khelo India scheme and Sports Authority of India’s Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports in Patiala since 2023.

Asmita won gold at the World Youth Championship last year in Suva, Fiji, with an overall lift of 158kg (70+88kg). She had also won a gold at the Commonwealth Youth Championship in 2023 in Noida with a total lift of 136kg (60+76kg). She has a bronze each at last year’s Asian Youth Championship and 2023 World Youth Championship. Asmita captured a hat-trick of gold medals in IWLF Youth Nationals from 2022 to 2024.

“I receive a scholarship from Khelo India and also train at NIS Patiala, which is a National Centre of Excellence (NCOE), since last two years. Khelo India is a big platform for all of us. It inspires me a lot. It gives me energy and confidence. The stipend of Rs 10,000 is a great help for someone like me as my father is an autorickshaw driver. We have a small field and two cows at home, which is taken care of by my mother, who is a housewife. I receive sports kits to travel and accommodation costs from SAI,” she added.

Talking about her ward, coach Pawar said: “First of all, I would like to tell you that she has inherited strong genes from her parents. To add to that, she is very disciplined. That is enough proof of her dedication. Weightlifting is a technical event. It requires both muscular strength and technique. She has a brilliant technique in clean and jerk. If she improves her snatch, Asmita will be unstoppable.”

With a target of winning gold at next year’s World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China, Asmita plans to face selection trials after the Commonwealth Youth and Junior Championships in Ahmedabad this August.

--IANS

hs/