Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu Wins Silver Medal At World Championships With Total Lift Of 200 kg

Mirabai Chanu, the Olympic medallist lifted 87 kg in snatch and 113 kg in clean & jerk in the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota.

Mirabai Chanu (Image Source: Twitter/ Kiren Rijiju)

New Delhi: Mirabai Chanu bagged silver medal in the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships in Bogota, Colombia on Wednesday. The Olympic medallist lifted a total of 200 kg with 87 kg in snatch and 113kg in clean & jerk. 

India finished behind China's Jiang Huihua, who won the gold with a total effort of 206kg (93kg+113kg) while her compatriot and Tokyo Olympics champion Hou Zhihua with a total lift of198kg (89kg+109kg) took home the bronze medal.

This was Jiang’s third World Championships gold.

"We were not taking any pressure for this event. This is the weight Mira lifts regularly. From now we will start increasing the weights and improving," head coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.

Chanu, the 2017 world champion, had hurt her wrist during a training session in September. She had also participated in the National Games with the injury in October. Mirabai's wrist problem became apparent when she struggled with the overhead lift during her second clean-and-jerk attempt, but she recovered fast with the best lift of 113 kg. She had the best attempt of 87 kg in the snatch event. Mirabai took home the silver in the clean and jerk category with her 113 kg attempt.

"We couldn't do much (about the injury) because we didn't want to skip the World Championships. Now, we will focus on her wrist because we have a lot of time before the next event," Sharma said.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju congratulating Mirabai Chanu on Twitter wrote, "Mirabai has made us proud again!"

Congratulations @mirabai_chanu
on winning Silver Medal in Weightlifting World Championship! With a total lift of 200kg (87kg snatch + 113kg clean & jerk, Mirabai has made India proud yet again! pic.twitter.com/uirJUSqI1y

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) December 7, 2022

It is the Manipuri's second Worlds medal, she won a gold in 2017.

According to the 2024 Olympic qualification rule, a lifter has to compete in the 2023 World Championship and 2024 World Cup. The lifter also has to participate in 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, of which the best three performances at the qualifying events will be taken into account for final assessment.

(With inputs from PTI)