HE may have won the Malaysia Games gold medal but it cost Constantine Clement glory at a higher level after the weightlifter failed to impress in the Commonwealth Games men’s 62kg category at the Clyde Auditorium on Friday.
Tipped as a potential medallist, Constantine produced a disappointing performance instead as he finished sixth.
Coming into the games with a personal best of 281kg, the 20-year-old only managed 266kg as Cyprus weightlifter Dimitris Minasidis took the gold with 276kg. Sri Lanka’s Sudeh Peiris (273kg) won the silver and Samoa’s Vaipava Ioane (271kg) the bronze.
Constantine lifted 120kg in the snatch and 146kg in the clean and jerk, before failing at 126kg and 151kg respectively.
In the clean and jerk, the Malaysian even failed to stand with the 151kg load, which he attributed to a poor warm-up and sluggish preparation after the Malaysia Games.
“My form dropped after the Malaysia Games and I have been struggling since,” said Constantine.
He won two gold medals in the Malaysia Games, with lifts of 127kg in the snatch and 143kg in the clean and jerk for a 270kg total.
His personal best is 127kg (snatch) and 154kg (clean and jerk) which would have given him the gold medal in Glasgow.
“It was not to be for me this time but I will train harder for the 2018 Games,” said a dejected Constantine.
Malaysia’s women weightlifters Azizah Fadzil (172kg) and Frenceay Titus (160kg) finished eighth and 10th in the 53kg category on Friday.
The gold was won by Nigeria’s Chika Amalaha (196kg) with Papua New Guinea’s Dika Toua (193kg) and Santoshi Matsa (188kg) taking silver and bronze respectively.