Commonwealth Games 2022: India’s ace weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won gold in women’s 49kg category
- Abhimanyu Bose
- Updated: July 30, 2022 11:24 PM IST
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| Mirabhai Chanu |
Mirabai Chanu has delivered on the promise and won the first gold medal for India at Commonwealth Games 2022. Chanu lifted a total of 201 kg to win the yellow metal in women’s 49kg weightlifting event, which was India’s third medal of the day from the sport after Sanket Sargar (silver) and Gururaja (bronze) delivered earlier in the day. Chanu, who had won the gold medal at the 2018 CWG in Gold Coast in Australia, was miles ahead of the competition as she picked up 88kg in snatch and 113 kg in clean and jerk.
Due to her excellent performance in the snatch round, which saw her set the new Commonwealth record, Mirabai needed to just complete her first attempt in the clean and jerk round and she did it with aplomb, lifting 105kg.
Assured of gold, she went on to lift 113kg in her second attempt. She tried 119kg in her third, but could not complete the lift, but it mattered little as she secured her second gold medal in the Commonwealth Games.
Mirabai breezed through the event, lifting 29kg more than Mauritius’ Roilya Ranaivosoa (76kg + 96kg), who won silver.
Canada’s Hannah Kaminsky took home the bronze medal, lifting a total of 171kg (74kg + 97kg).
Mirabai is one of the most decorated weightlifters in India. She already had a Commonwealth Games silver (2014) and gold (2018) in her kitty before winning the yellow metal again in 2022. She also won a gold medal at the 2017 World Championships and also has several Commonwealth Championships medals and an Asian Championships medal.
The highlight of her career came last year in Tokyo as she became India’s first silver medallist in weightlifting at the Olympic Games, bettering the bronze medal won by Karnam Malleswari in Sydney 2000.