Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu returned home, on Monday, after producing a silver medal-winning performance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She will be staying at home in Imphal for not many days as she has her eyes set on the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

“I am going home, will spend time there. I have stayed at home probably for just 10 days in the last 5 years,” the 49kg clean and jerk world record holder said.

She said that she has to get back to training from August 10 for the Commonwealth Championship in October. This is the qualification event for the Commonwealth Games.

“I have no time to rest,” Mirabai Chanu told news agency PTI.

Mirabai said that reading about fellow Manipuri N Kunjarani Devi, the most decorated Indian female weightlifter, inspired her to take up weightlifting.

“While growing up I was inclined towards sports. But I had no idea what to do after getting in also. Slowly I understood that I could do good and make India proud. The history books in my school had information about Kunjrani madam, I was inspired by that,” she said.

She also recalled how in the run-up to the Games, she had a shoulder issue and it worried her.

“When I started training after the lockdown, my back started getting tight and my right shoulder had some issue. It was not an injury but it would get tight while lifting heavy weight,” she said.

“It happened because I had stopped training during the lockdown and my body,” she added.

She was confined to the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When she resumed her training, the shoulder issue crept in and it created problems for her. To rectify it, she visited Dr Aaron Horschig in the United Stated.

This visitation helped her as she won a bronze at the Asian Championship with a world record clean and jerk lift of 119kg in April.

“That’s why we planned to go to US. That helped me a lot and I was able to create a world record in Asian Championship,” she said.

She also attended a 50-day camp in the States ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“The US physiotherapist worked with me. I have a muscle imbalance. Whenever I lifted a heavy load I used to be in pain. She would make me do some exercises. That benefited me a lot,” the champion weightlifter said.