Mirabai wins India CWG gold, Amit Shah wrestles with congratulatory tweet

Mirabai Chanu, the Indian weightlifter, won the nation its first gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. She participated in the women’s 49kg category, and set a record, lifting 201kg. 

While the nation congratulated her, including many in the BJP government, Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, struggled to get the name of the sport right. 

In his initial tweet, he confused weightlifting with wrestling, and the congratulatory message read that Indian wrestlers are keeping the nation’s flag flying high. Other weightlifters who won today are Sanket Sargar and Gururaja Poojary. Of the two, the latter had started out as a wrestler before the switch to weightlifting. 

Since then, Shah has deleted the tweet. 

He replaced it with the right sport soon after, and added, “Well done @mirabai_chanu. You’ve shown remarkable grit and tenacity. The nation is proud of your achievement.” 

After winning India the gold, Chanu said, “Commonwealth are the first games I am playing after Tokyo Olympics. I won a gold for the country, I am elated. I’d never done 88kg & I did it this time, even touched upon 90kg. I am happy about it”, as per ANI.

She added, “I was very emotional when the national anthem played after my win, everyone was singing it at the top of their voice. I was touched”. 

Also Read | CWG 2022: Sanket Sargar wins silver for India, sportsworld reacts

Ahead of the game, Chanu had asserted that she’d be competing with herself and trying to break her records. 

“I am thinking of attempting 120kg in the CWG”, she’d said, adding that she’d try to break the 90kg mark in the Snatch category.

Also Read | CWG 2022: Gururaja Poojary bronze gives India second medal, internet reacts

“Yes (it has become a mental block). We have planned to lift 91kg or 92kg at the CWG. Hopefully, it will happen”, the athlete from Manipur had said at the time. 

Chanu ended up lifting 88kg in the Snatch category and 113kg in the Clean and Grab section.