India’s star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the World Championships despite a wrist injury. He lifted a total of 200 kg in this competition. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Chanu lifted 87 kg in snatch and 113 kg in ‘clean and jerk’ in the 49 kg category.
Jiang Huihua of China won the gold medal with a total lift of 206 kg (93+113), while her compatriot and Tokyo Olympic champion Hou Zhihua won the bronze with a total lift of 198 kg (89+109).
Chief coach Vijay Sharma said, “We were not taking any pressure for this tournament. This is the weight Mira lifts regularly. From now on we will start increasing the weight and improving. We couldn’t do much (about the injury) because we didn’t want to miss the World Championships. Now we will focus on her wrist as we have a lot of time before the next tournament.” Chanu, the 2017 world champion, suffered a wrist injury during a training session in September. She subsequently missed the National Games in October with the injury. Had attended
A total of 11 players were involved in the competition, but most of the players did not exert much force and tried to save themselves from injury. Zihua didn’t even make her last attempt in the clean and jerk and had to settle for a bronze medal.
Competing in her first international tournament after winning the Commonwealth Games gold, Chanu’s performance was disappointing in snatch. He started with a lift of 84 kg but his second attempt of 87 kg was deemed unsuccessful. For this reason, he did not try to lift 90 kg.
The 28-year-old Chanu wobbled a bit while lifting 87 kg in her final attempt, but was successful in the end. His personal score in this category is one kilogram more than this. Chanu set the highest weight in the clean and jerk after finishing fifth in the snatch section, but her left elbow wobbled a bit while lifting 111 kg and her effort was disallowed. The Indian camp challenged the decision but there was no change in it. Chanu, who holds the world record in the category, managed to clinch the overall and clean and jerk silver in her last two attempts of 111kg and 113kg. He also took silver in the snatch category.
This is Chanu’s second World Championship medal, having won gold in 2017.
Separate medals are awarded for snatch, clean and jerk and total lift in the Asian and World Championships. However, only one medal is given for the total lift in the Olympics.
India has four more lifters. S Bindiarani Devi (59kg), Chanambam Rishikant Singh (61kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg) will compete in their respective categories.
The 2022 World Championships is the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be reduced from 14 at the Tokyo Games to 10. However, it is not mandatory. Under the 2024 Olympic qualification rule, a weightlifter has to compulsorily compete at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 World Cup.
India’s star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the World Championships despite a wrist injury. He lifted a total of 200 kg in this competition. Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Chanu lifted 87 kg in snatch and 113 kg in ‘clean and jerk’ in the 49 kg category.
Jiang Huihua of China won the gold medal with a total lift of 206 kg (93+113), while her compatriot and Tokyo Olympic champion Hou Zhihua won the bronze with a total lift of 198 kg (89+109).
Chief coach Vijay Sharma said, “We were not taking any pressure for this tournament. This is the weight Mira lifts regularly. From now on we will start increasing the weight and improving. We couldn’t do much (about the injury) because we didn’t want to miss the World Championships. Now we will focus on his wrist as we have a lot of time before the next tournament.”
