Guwahati: An Olympic silver medalist and two-time Commonwealth Games winner Mirabai Chanu won the gold medal in the women’s 49 kg weightlifting event on Friday at the National Games 2022 being held in Mahatma Mandir of Gandhinagar.
Mirabai Chanu, who was representing Manipur, lifted a total of 191 kg—84 kg in the snatch and 107 kg in the clean and jerk—to win the gold. Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu, a teammate and gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, won the silver medal with a total lift of 187 kg, including 82 kg in the snatch and 105 kg in the clean and jerk.
Sneha Soren of Odisha, who earlier this year won the gold medal at the Khelo India University Games, finished third after lifting a total of 169 kg, including 73 kg in the snatch and 96 kg in the clean and jerk.
The 28-year-old Mirabai Chanu won the gold despite suffering a wrist injury.
Mirabai Chanu remarked following her triumph, “I recently damaged my left wrist when training at NIS, Patiala, and after that I made sure not to risk it further.”
“The world championships are coming up in December. It is a proud moment for me to represent Manipur at the National Games, and the excitement doubled when I was asked to lead the contingent at the opening ceremony. It normally gets hectic to attend opening ceremonies as my event starts early the next day, but I felt I must challenge myself this time around,” she added.
In the snatch, Mirabai Chanu gained an early advantage by raising the bar to 81 kg in her first try. She then outperformed Sanjita, who could only manage 80 kg and 82 kg in her first two efforts, by 3 kg with a clean effort of 84 kg in her second lift.
The third effort by Sanjita to lift 84 kg was ruled a foul. Mirabai decided to conserve her energies and skipped the third attempt.
Sanjita successfully lifted 95 kg in her first clean and jerk effort before increasing the weight to 100 kg and 105 kg. All three attempts received approval from the judges.