Silver medallist India's Harjinder Kaur poses for photographs during the presentation ceremony after the women's 69kg weightlifting event at the 23rd Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (PTI Photo)Some more farmland.That was the thought that came to Harjinder Kaur‘s mind immediately after she won the Commonwealth Games silver medal in the women’s 69kg weightlifting event.The medal was an improvement on the one the girl from Punjab had clinched in the 71kg category at the previous edition in Birmingham. Since then, her marginal farming family had moved to a new house and bought some farmland in their village, and Harjinder’s father Sahib Singh may interpret her latest achievement in terms of what it could provide the family materially.“We had marginal farmland and the income was augmented by selling milk from the six buffaloes we owned. The bronze medal won in Birmingham landed me a job as an income tax inspector, apart from cash awards. I wanted to upgrade my medal here and now I will get some more farmland for my father,” Harjinder told The Indian Express from Glasgow.Harjinder lifted a total of 227 kg – 101kg in snatch and 126kg in clean and jerk – to finish behind Canadian Charlotte Simoneau (240kg —108kg and 132kg). ndia’s Harjinder Kaur competes in the women’s 69kg weightlifting event at the 23rd Commonwealth Games, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (PTI Photo)Via kabaddi and weightliftingWith the family owning six buffaloes, Harjinder got plenty of milk and home-made paneer. She would often help her father operate the chaff-cutting machine, and the strong physique came handy when Harjinder started playing kabaddi at Government Girls School at Nabha, where she would commute daily by bicycle.She was then selected to play for Punjabi University, Patiala where 1990 Commonwealth Games weightlifting champion and coach Paramjit Sharma took her under his wings.Story continues below this ad“She was healthy and I knew I could groom her into a good weightlifter. I put her initially in tug of war teams before starting weightlifting training. Her mother sold her jewellery and the family took loans to support her training, which made Harjinder determined to excel in her sport,” he told The Indian Express.It was in 2019 that brother Pritpal Singh got a contractual job in the PWD department and with Harjinder too getting a scholarship from Punjabi University, the family’s financial situation improved and she could focus solely on weightlifting.Battling injuriesLast year, Harjinder suffered a wrist injury while a back problem that she suffered in 2019 also aggravated. She moved to the 69kg class and won the bronze at the Commonwealth Championship in Ahmedabad with a mark of 222kg.Also Read | Harjinder Kaur wins silver, India’s 7th weightlifting medal at 2026 CWGDespite winning her second successive CWG medal on Tuesday, Harjinder knows she has work to do in the coming years.Story continues below this ad India’s Harjinder Kaur gestures after completing her final attempt in the Women’s 69kg weightlifting event at the Commonwealth Games 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Harjinder won the silver medal in the event. (PTI Photo)“I have had some issues in my clean and jerk technique, and have been working on them for a few years. (National coach) Vijay Sharma sir has been working on getting some technical flaws rectified and the aim is to improve further,” she said.Meanwhile, mother Kuldeep knows what Harjinder would demand when she gets home from Glasgow.“She always asks me to cook vegetables like pumpkin, which she doesn’t get to eat at hostels or abroad.”Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More Tags:Commonwealth Games 2026