Mirabai Chanu | Image File | Photo Credit: KRISHNAN VV
Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu was not at her best due to a wrist injury but still won a silver medal at the World Championships with a total lift of 200kg, here.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, competing in the 49kg category, lifted 87kg in the snatch and in the ‘clean and jerk’ his best effort was a lift of 113kg, here on Tuesday night.
The Indian finished behind Jiang Huihua of China, who won gold with a total effort of 206kg (93kg+113kg) while his compatriot and Tokyo Olympics champion Hou Zhihua 198kg (89kg+109kg) took home the bronze medal .
“We were not taking any pressure for this event. This is the weight Mira lifts regularly. From now on we will start increasing the weights and improving,” said head coach Vijay Sharma. PTI.
Ms. Chanu, the 2017 world champion, hurt his wrist during a training session in September. He also participated in the National Games with an injury in October.
“We can’t do much (about the injury) because we don’t want to miss the World Championships. Now, we will focus on his pulse because we have a lot of time before the next event,” said Mr. Sharma.
While the 11-lifter field was highly competitive, most lifters refrained from stretching themselves. Zhihua even skipped his last clean and jerk attempt to settle for bronze.
Competing in her first international tournament since winning gold at the Commonwealth Games, Ms. Chanu of a bad snatch session. He started with an 84kg lift but his second attempt of 87kg was deemed no lift.
Expectedly, Ms. did not go. Chanu for the long awaited 90kg lift.
In her final attempt, the 28-year-old, who had her wrist bandaged, wobbled a bit but managed to lift the 87kg barbell, which was a kilogram less than her personal best in the section.
Fifth after the snatch section, Ms. Chanu had the highest clean and jerk entry weight but his first attempt of 111kg was deemed not to lift his left elbow slightly.
The Indian camp challenged the decision but the judges upheld it.
However, Ms. Chanu, the world record holder in the category, cleared his last two attempts of 111kg and 113 kg to collect the overall and clean and jerk silver. He also took silver in the snatch category.
This is Manipuri’s second World medal, she won gold in 2017.
Medals are awarded separately for snatch, clean and jerk, and total lift at the continental and World Championships. But, only one medal for total lifting is awarded at the Olympics.
India has four more lifters in the fray. S Bindiyrani Devi (59kg), Chanambam Rishikanta Singh (61kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg) will compete in their respective categories.
The 2022 World Championship is the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be reduced from 14 at the Tokyo Games to 10.
However, this is an additional event and not a mandatory one.
Under the 2024 Olympic qualification rule, a lifter must compete at the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup.
Apart from the above, the lifter must also participate in three of the following events — the 2022 World Championships, the 2023 Continental Championships, the 2023 Grand Prix 1, the 2023 Grand Prix II and the 2024 Continental Championships.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will publish the Olympic Qualification Rating (OQR) of each Olympic weight category at the end of the qualification period.
The weightlifter’s best three performances in the qualifying events will be considered for the final evaluation.
