The wait is finally over, says Olympian Karnam Malleswari

Karnam Malleswari, the Telugu athlete who won India’s first ever medal in weightlifting at the Olympics, said it is one of best moments for the weightlifting fraternity in the country.

Hyderabad: When Mirabai Chanu clinched India’s first medal in Tokyo Games on Saturday with her silver medal show in the 49 kg weightlifting category, the whole country erupted in joy. It also ended a 21-year-old drought for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics for India.

Karnam Malleswari, the Telugu athlete who won India’s first ever medal in weightlifting at the Olympics, said it is one of best moments for the weightlifting fraternity in the country. Malleswari entered record books as the first female from the country to win a medal at Olympics when she won bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

On the historic silver, Malleswari said, “We are very happy. This is really a very big moment for our fraternity. We have been waiting for a second medal and today the 21-year-old wait is over.” Malleswari also predicted a bright future for the game. “The weightlifters will have a bright future after this medal. Indian lifters performing well on an international stage like the Olympics will boost the game. Junior and upcoming lifters will be motivated a lot. Many people also will take up the sport,” she opined.

Mirabai, who crashed out early in her maiden Olympics Rio in 2016, lifted a combined weight of 202 kgs for the second-place finish after China’s Hou Zhihui, who took gold with the Olympic record lift of 210kgs.

Malleswari, who is now settled in New Delhi, felt Mirabai’s exposure and determination did the trick for her on the world’s biggest stage. “Rio performance was bad luck for her. But she recovered very well after that. She has been performing very well consistently in international events and ended up getting a good exposure. She is also very focused. That helped her today.”

Mirabai was the lone lifter from India to make it to the Games but Malleswari said it was on the cards. “We were not disappointed (when only one lifter qualified). There is no one on the next step after Mirabai. Jeremy (Lalrinnunga) was good and we thought he would qualify but he didn’t.”

Mirabai Chanu holds the world record in clean and jerk with a lift of 119 but she fell way short of her personal best. She lifted 115 kgs on her second attempt but faltered while lifting 117 on her final attempt. “The performance differs from competition to competition and it depends a lot on that particular day. We knew that the Chinese athlete was the favourite coming into these Games. But Mirabai too went about her performance calmly. Performing on such a big stage will have a lot of pressure, but she didn’t let that come in her way,” concluded the 46-year-old.

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