Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy Lalrinnunga and the other weightlifters who represented India at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will be rested for the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2022, to be held in Manama, Bahrain from October 6 to 16.
The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) took the decision to keep India’s top lifters fresh for the Paris 2024 Olympics qualifying tournaments, the first of which will be the World Weightlifting Championships 2022 in Bogota, Colombia in December.
ओलम्पिक और खेल खबरे हिन्दी में: यहां क्लिक करें
“The IWLF decided in a meeting that CWG participants should not be given back-to-back events as they had just competed at the CWG. So the lifters from the core group will focus on the worlds while others will get a chance to represent the country at the Asian event," Indian weightlifting head coach Vijay Sharma told The New Indian Express.
India sent a 15-member weightlifting contingent to CWG 2022. The team comprised Mirabai Chanu, Bindyarani Devi, Popy Hazarika, Harjinder Kaur, Punam Yadav, Usha Kumara, Purnima Pandey, Sanket Mahadev, Gururaja, Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Achinta Sheuli, Ajay Singh, Vikas Thakur, Lovepreet Singh and Gurdeep Singh.
Of these 10 returned with medals, including three gold, three silver and four bronze. Mirabai Chanu (women’s 49kg), Jeremy Lalrinnunga (men’s 67kg) and Achinta Sheuli (men’s 73kg) were the gold medallists.
The CWG lifters are currently on a break after their Commonwealth Games campaign but are expected to join the national camp at NIS, Patiala soon.
The IWLF has already sent its entries for the Asian championships as they were required to send a preliminary entry list by August 8. The last date of submission for the final list, which will include 10 men’s and as many women’s lifters barring two reserves for each category, is on September 8.
At the last edition of the Asian Championships held last year, Jhilli Dalabehera (gold in women’s 45kg) and Mirabai Chanu (bronze in women’s 49kg) medalled for India.
The event also saw Tokyo Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu lift 119kg to create a new world record in the clean and jerk section.