Mirabai Chanu’s 12-year wait ends with Nagoya silver

Mirabai Chanu ended a 12-year wait for an Asian Games medal by winning silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event in Nagoya. She totalled 198kg, while North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won gold with a record-breaking 215kg

Nagoya: Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu finally filled the one glaring void in her glittering trophy cabinet, turning 12 years of waiting, near-misses and heartbreak into an Asian Games silver in the women’s 49kg event here on Wednesday.

The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist totalled 198kg (88kg+111kg) to claim India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari’s silver in 1998.

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“Winning an Asian Games medal is a dream come true. I have been chasing this medal for the last 12 years, since the 2014 Asian Games. My life is complete now with this medal. And I am feeling very light. It’s a dream Asian Games,” Chanu said after the competition.

Two-time world champion Ri Song Gum of North Korea lived up to her billing, completing a hat-trick of Asian Games titles with a stunning 215kg (94kg+121kg).

Ri smashed the world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and total on her way to gold, while Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana took bronze with 191kg (88kg+103kg).

The silver completes a collection that already includes an Olympic silver, three World Championship medals, including a gold, multiple Commonwealth Games and Championships titles, and an Asian Championships bronze.

But the Asian Games had repeatedly found a way to leave her empty-handed.

Chanu finished ninth on her debut in 2014 and missed the 2018 edition because of a back injury. At the Hangzhou Games in 2023, she was within touching distance of the podium before a hip injury on the platform forced her to settle for fourth.

There was no such drama in Nagoya.

Wearing gold earrings shaped like Olympic rings that were gifted to her by her mother and a tri-coloured ribbon in her hair, Chanu walked onto the platform with a familiar target but a different sense of occasion.

She opened her snatch series with 83kg, then smoothly cleared 85kg and 87kg to finish the first half of the competition in third place.

In the clean and jerk, Chanu made 107kg look routine with her opening lift. She then heaved 111kg.

With silver assured, she did not take her final attempt.

“I have dreamed of winning an Asian Games medal since I stepped into weightlifting. Something or the other happened before or during the Asian Games, but this time I have fulfilled my dream,” she said.

For Chanu, the medal also brings a brief pause after months of relentless preparation. She had returned to training the very next day after winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month, with Nagoya firmly in her sights.

“I am yet to decide on how to go about LA 28. The qualification process starts in December. I will enjoy this medal for a while and will decide,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Chanu on her achievement, saying her “determination and consistency” continued to inspire the nation.

“A special Silver for @mirabai_chanu! Congratulations to her on winning the medal in the Women’s 49 kg Weightlifting event. Her determination and consistency continue to inspire the nation. India is proud of her. Best wishes for her future endeavours: PM @narendramodi.”

Gyaneshwari finishes 8th

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Gyaneshwari Yadav finished a disappointing eighth in the women’s 53kg event.

The 23-year-old lifted 87kg in the snatch and 108kg in the clean and jerk for a total effort of 195kg, which was four kilos less than her 199kg effort that fetched her the silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July.