Fast-rising Indian weightlifter Valluri Ajaya Babu won the silver medal in the men’s 79kg category at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, adding another medal to India’s tally in the sport.The 21-year-old from Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh lifted a Commonwealth Games record of 149kg in the snatch and 181kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 330kg. He finished just one kilogram behind Malaysia’s Erry Hidayat Muhammad, who won the gold with a Games record total of 331kg (147kg snatch + 184kg clean and jerk).England’s Chris Murray claimed the bronze medal with a total lift of 325 kg.The fight for gold came down to the final lift of the clean and jerk. Hidayat first lifted 181kg to set a new Commonwealth Games record. Ajaya Babu then matched and bettered that effort by lifting 181kg in his final attempt, taking his total to 330kg. Hidayat responded with a successful lift of 184kg in his last attempt to break the record and win the gold medal.Early in the snatch, Ajaya Babu recovered after failing in the second attempt at 149kg. He lifted the same weight in his third and final attempt to set a new Commonwealth Games record and topped the snatch standings ahead of Chris Murray (148kg) and Erry Hidayat Muhammad (147kg).Ajaya Babu opened the competition with a successful lift of 145 kg in the snatch before ending the section with a record lift.The silver medal is India’s sixth medal in weightlifting at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.Ajaya Babu is one of the leading weightlifters in India in recent years. At the 2025 Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad, he won gold in the men’s 79kg category with a personal-best total of 335kg (152kg snatch + 183kg clean and jerk), setting new championship records. That performance earned him direct qualification for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.At the 2024 Commonwealth Championships in Suva, Fiji, he won gold medals in the junior and senior men’s 81kg categories.He also competed at the 2025 World Championships in Forde, Norway, where he finished 16th overall in a field of 39 lifters.