KATHMANDU: Three weight lifting records were shattered at the selection tournament for the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka early next year. Olympian Kamal Bahadur Adhikari of Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) set a new clean and jerk record of 154kg in the 77kg weight category breaking his own previous best of 153kg set during the Inter-club Asian Championship in Uzbekistan earlier this year. Adhikari lifted 110kg in snatch for a total of 264kg and win the event but he was one-kg short of his own personal best of 265kg. Gyan Bahadur Shrestha of TAC broke 10-year-old record in clean and jerk record lifting 145kg while winning the 94kg category title. He broke the previous mark of 140kg set by Gopal Bahadur Shrestha in the eighth South Asian Federation (SAF) Games held in Kathmandu in 1999. He also set a new record in his way to aggregate 252kg after he lifted 107kg in snatch and once again successfully broke Shrestha’s best of 250kg in total. However, Shrestha managed to set a new record in clean and jerk lifting 155kg to win the 105kg category breaking his own record of 152.5kg set during the ninth SAF Games held in Islamabad in 2003. Shrestha was already in the record books when he lifted 153kg in the first attempt but he set a tough benchmark of 155kg in the second attempt. Shrestha, who is affiliated to Casino Tara, lifted 112kg in snatch and aggregated 267kg to finish first in the category. Shrestha, however, was well short of his previous best of 120kg in snatch set in Islamabad. Punti Lal Yadav of Saptari won the 105kg final with a total lift of 230kg. Yadav lifted 95kg in snatch and 135kg in clean and jerk. Bikash Thapa of NPC triumphed in the 62kg section with a total lift of 200kg (90kg in snatch and 110kg in clean and jerk). Likewise, the 56kg section title went to Hem Shankar Chaudhary of Siraha, who lifted a total of 177kg. Chaudhary lifted 75kg in snatch and 102kg in clean and jerk. A total of 17 players took part in the final round selection. Four weight categories — 77, 94, 105 and above 105 — have been confirmed in the regional meet while 56 and 62kg events will be confirmed after the technical committee meeting to be held in Dhaka on Wednesday. “We will announce the final squad after the meeting in Dhaka,” said NIS chief Partha Sarathi Sen Gupta.