Lifter Ravi Kumar disappoints

India's weightlifting campaign at the London Olympics ended on Tuesday after Katulu Ravi Kumar's below-par performance in the men's 69kg category at the ExCel Arena.

Ravi Kumar, who had just recovered in time for the event after a bout of fever, lifted a below par 303kg -- 136kg in snatch and 167kg in clean and jerk -- to finish sixth in the 10-lifter Group B competition.

- London Olympics 2012 - Complete coverage

The Group A competition among 14 top weightlifters of the category will be held later Tuesday night.

In major weightlifting events, the top participants are placed in Group A so that performances of the lifters improve while competing with the best. Those participants who are in the lower rung are placed in Group B.

The first place in Group B went to North Korea's Kim Myong Hyok, who lifted a total of 329kg (145+184). The second and third spots went to Junior Antonio Rivero Sanchez of Venezuela and Sardar Hasanov of Azerbaijan, who lifted 328kg (148+180) and 321kg (145+176), respectively.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ravi had lifted 311kg (141+170) to bag sixth spot at the recent Asian Championships, but even that effort would not have given him any chance for a podium finish.

He blamed the fever he had for the past few days as the main reason for his poor show.

"I had a fever before the competition and I am disappointed that I did not perform well because of that," he said.

On being part of the Olympic Games, he said, "My country will not be proud of my performance but I am proud to be in the world's number one competition."

The other Indian lifter in the fray, N Soniya Chanu, had finished seventh in the women's 48kg category on July 28.