- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: Mirabai Chanu is a medal away from becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win two Olympic medals. The Tokyo 2020 silver medallist says success at Paris Olympics will depend on how well she manages to keep herself injury-free and improve technical nitty-gritties because “competition in the 49 kg division is going to be very tough this time.”
In an interaction with SAI Media at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports at Patiala, Mirabai, the only Indian weightlifter to qualify for Paris 2024, said the period between now and August 7, the day when the weightlifting competition will start in Paris, will be dedicated to “managing all the muscles in my body” and “improving technique to lift at least 90 kg in snatch.”
Mirabai’s personal best in snatch is 88 kgs, an effort that helped her win the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham with a combined lift of 201 kg that included 113 kg in clean and jerk.
Paris 2024 will be Mirabai Chanu’s third Olympics. After a horror debut at Rio 2016, the Manipuri, pushing 30, made impressive comebacks with sterling shows at global competitions. Mirabai became the first lifter in 22 years to become a world champion in 2017.
The gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in Gold Coast followed and after narrowly missing a medal at the 2019 World Championship, Mirabai created history at the 2020 Asian Championships in China. In clean and jerk, Mirabai lifted 119 kgs in Ningbo, China. It was a world record!
Injuries have been Mirabai’s constant partner. Post the historic silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics, she has been afflicted by numerous injuries. The hip injury at the Hangzhou Asian Games sidelined Mirabai for five months. Managing injuries with her trusted American physio Dr Aaron Horschig and coach Vijay Sharma, has been her biggest challenge.
