CWG 2026: How a tailor's son, vegetable loader Lovepreet Singh bagged silver

At 4 a.m., while most teenagers were asleep, Lovepreet Singh was already at the vegetable market in Amritsar.

The son of a tailor from Bal Sachander village in Punjab, Lovepreet spent his mornings unloading sacks and helping wholesale vendors before heading home to prepare for school and training.

The ₹300 he earned each day wasn't pocket money. It paid for his diet, equipment, and the dream of becoming a weightlifter.

On Thursday night in Glasgow, that dream reached another milestone.

The Indian heavyweight clinched the silver medal in the men's +110kg event at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, lifting 176kg in the snatch and 212kg in the clean and jerk for a national record total of 388kg.

The effort also bettered the bronze medal he won in Birmingham four years ago.

"This medal has boosted my confidence for the Asian Games. I have been preparing for this moment for the last two to two-and-a-half years, and I am feeling great," Lovepreet said after the win.

The Punjab lifter, who had claimed bronze at the previous Commonwealth Games, said improving the colour of his medal while breaking the Games record was a satisfying achievement despite falling agonisingly short of the top podium.

Lovepreet dedicated the medal to his family and the country's sporting fraternity.

"I dedicate this medal to my brother, the Government of India and the entire sports family," he said.

But the story of Lovepreet's rise began long before the bright lights of international competition.

His father, Kirpal Singh, stitched clothes at a small tailoring shop outside their modest two-room home. His grandfather sold vegetables.

Money was scarce, and the family often had to choose between daily necessities and supporting Lovepreet's sporting ambitions.

Inspired by stories of local weightlifting heroes like Heera Singh, the youngster took up the sport in his early teens. The talent was obvious, but talent alone could not pay for protein-rich meals or travel to competitions.

So he worked.

Every morning, before sunrise, he would report to the Amritsar vegetable mandi, earning just enough to keep his training alive.

His grandfather, uncles and parents pooled whatever they could, postponing improvements to their own home so Lovepreet could continue chasing his dream.

Years of sacrifice eventually paid off when he joined the Indian Navy in 2015. The steady income transformed not only his own life but also that of his family, allowing him to train without constantly worrying about where his next meal would come from.

The medals soon followed. A junior Commonwealth champion, Lovepreet steadily climbed the ranks before winning silver at the 2021 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships.

At the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, he claimed bronze in the 109kg category, making all six of his lifts and setting national records along the way. 

Since then, the Indian heavyweight has continued to improve. He claimed bronze at the 2025 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships before finishing fifth at the 2026 Asian Championships with a then personal-best total of 386kg.

In Glasgow, he went one step further, rewriting the national record books with a 388kg total to secure the Commonwealth silver.

For the boy who once spent his dawns lifting vegetable sacks so he could afford to lift barbells later in the day, the weight on his shoulders has never just been measured in kilograms.

It has always carried the hopes of a family that refused to let poverty decide his future.