Nagoya: Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu finally secured an Asian Games medal, winning silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday. Her achievement also ended India’s 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the continental Games.
Chanu produced a total lift of 198kg, comprising 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. She completed all three of her snatch attempts successfully, lifting 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. In the clean and jerk, she opened with 107kg before successfully lifting 111kg on her second attempt.
North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won gold with a total of 215kg, including 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk. Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with 191kg. Ri’s performance also included a world-record clean and jerk, according to reports from the competition.
The silver was particularly significant for Chanu, who had narrowly missed the podium at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games after an injury during her final clean and jerk attempt left her in fourth place.
India’s previous Asian Games weightlifting medal came in 1998, when Karnam Malleswari won silver in the women’s 63kg category in Bangkok. Chanu’s result therefore marks the country’s return to the podium in the discipline after nearly three decades.
The medal also completes a major gap in Chanu’s decorated career, which includes an Olympic silver, World Championship medals and multiple Commonwealth Games titles. Her long-awaited Asian Games podium finish adds another milestone to her international record.
