Mirabai Chanu wins weightlifting silver, India’s 1st medal at Tokyo games

Mirabai Chanu (49kg) becomes the first Indian weightlifter to win silver medal in Olympics in the Tokyo edition of the Summer Games on Saturday. The 26-year-old lifted a total of 202 kg (87kg + 115 kg) to better Karnam Malleswari’s bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

With this, she exorcised the ghosts of the 2016 Games where she had failed to log a single legitimate lift.

The gold went to China’s Hou Zhihui with an effort of 210kg (94kg+116kg). Aisah Windy Cantika of Indonesia took home the bronze with an effort of 194kg (84kg+110kg).

Mirabai attempted 84kg in her first snatch attempt. The weightlifter took her time and cleanly heaved the barbell.

She lifted 87kg in her next attempt and raised the weight to 89kg, which was one 1kg more than her personal best of 88kg that she had lifted at the national championship last year.

However, she was unable to better her personal best and settled for 87kg in the snatch event only behind leader Zhihui, who created a new Olympic record with an effort of 94kg.

The Chinese lifter also holds the world mark (96kg) in the category.

In the clean jerk, Mirabai, who is the world record holder in the section, lifted 110kg and 115kg in the first two attempts.

However, she was unable to raise 117kg in her final attempt but it was enough to fetch her a medal and open India’s account.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated Mirabai on her achievement. “Could not have asked for a happier start to Tokyo Olympics, India elated by Mirabai Chanu’s silver medal win in weightlifting,” PM Modi tweeted.

“Our competitors are the lifters from China, USA and Indonesia. We have worked on snatch. But the weights will be decided based on what the others are doing. We don’t want to take unnecessary risks,” national coach Vijay Sharma had said before the start of the tournament.

“At the Asian Championship we had the freedom to experiment but the Olympics comes once in four years, the strategy will be different,” he added.

The 2020 Olympics is being held in Tokyo Japan after being pushed back one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Summer Games is being held under tight COVID protocols. This time, to curb the spread of the virus, winners will be putting their medals around their own necks.