Commonwealth Games 2022 weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu wins India’s first gold medal
The Tokyo 2020 silver medallist dominated the 49kg women’s division to successfully defend her CWG title at Birmingham 2022.
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu won the gold medal in the women’s 49kg at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham to continue India’s medal rush in weightlifting on Saturday.
After Sanket Sargar’s silver and Gururaja’s bronze in the men’s 55kg and 61kg respectively, earlier in the day, Mirabai Chanu’s medal was India’s first gold at Birmingham 2022.
Heading into the competition at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, Mirabai Chanu was the outright favourite to win her division and lived up to the billing with a total lift of 201kg (snatch – 88kg; clean and jerk – 113 kg).
With her mark, Mirabai Chanu shattered the Commonwealth Games record in the category.
The previous Games record, in fact, was held by Chanu herself courtesy a 196kg lift which brought her the 48kg gold medal at Gold Coast 2018.
"Am very happy to break the new Games record. It's a special medal for me, just after the Olympics. My fight today was against myself. I wanted to touch 90kg in snatch but it didn't happen. Hopefully it will come soon. My next target is the world championships." - Mirabai Chanu
The Manipuri ace began her title CWG defence with a 84kg effort, a new Games record in snatch, and improved it to 88kg with her second try to match her personal best. Her third attempt, a crack at 90kg, though, was unsuccessful.
The second-best lifter after Chanu in snatch was Mauritius’ Roilya Ranaivosoa, who logged a best effort of 76kg.
In the clean and jerk, Mirabai Chanu lifted 109kg with her first attempt to shatter the Commonwealth Games record and secure the gold. A lift of 113kg in her second attempt saw her extend the winning margin.
It was Mirabai Chanu’s third successive medal at the Commonwealth Games. She finished with silver at Glasgow 2014 and won gold at Gold Coast 2018.
Much like she was at Gold Coast, Mirabai Chanu was in a league of her own on the day. Roilya Ranaivosoa won the silver medal with 172kg (76kg + 96kg) while Canada’s Hannah Kaminski claimed the bronze with 171kg (74kg+ 97kg).
Barring the top position, the rest of the field was tremendously competitive.