Gandhinagar: Manipur’s Olympic silver-medalist Saikhom Mirabai Chanu bagged the gold medal in the women’s 49 kg weightlifting competition at the ongoing National Games 2022 in Mahatma Mandir campus, here on Friday.
Mirabai, who had claimed the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham in August, walked away with the title after lifting 84kg in snatch and 107 kgs in clean & jerk.
Mirabai and her Manipur rival Sanjita Chanu pushed each other tactically before the former prevailed with a snatch effort of 84kg and a clean and jerk mark of 107kg on her second attempts to record a total of 191kg. She beat Sanjita, who put up a spirited performance to aggregate 187kg, by four kg.
It was a reversal of places on the podium for the two as Sanjita had won the gold in 48kg category while Mirabai had taken the silver seven years ago.
Despite the odds, Mirabai enjoyed her new accomplishments. “It was a proud moment to be the flag-bearer of Manipur. It is a nice feeling to win my first gold here. I recently injured my left wrist during training after which I made sure not to risk it before the World Championships in December,” said Mirabai.
“It normally gets hectic to attend opening ceremonies as my event starts early on the next day, but I felt I must challenge myself this time.”
Even though she is aiming for her first podium finish at the Asian Games next year, Mirabai is focused on the World championships (which would be an Olympic qualifying event).
“An Asian Games medal is missing from my cabinet. It will be my first Asian Games after missing out on the 2018 edition with a back injury. For me, the main focus now is the World championships, where I will get to compete against the same weightlifters whom I will meet in the Asiad,” said the 28-year-old. With agency inputs