Jeremy Lalrinnunga shines with silver at Qatar International Cup

Having skipped out on the South Asian Games after it lost its Tokyo 2020 qualifying status, both Saikom Mirabai Chanu and Jeremy Lalrinnunga, had decided to focus on the 6th Qatar International Cup in Doha instead.

Competing in the men's 67kg category, Lalrinnunga followed up Chanu’s achievement by winning the silver medal with a total lift of 306kg (140kg in snatch and 166kg in clean and jerk).

Prior to Lalrinnunga's silver-snaring endeavour, it was world champion weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu who provided more reasons for India to celebrate, opening the country's account with a gold in the women's 49kg category.

It’s been a good year

After winning the gold medal at the Youth Olympics last year, Lalrinnunga has already enjoyed a rewarding year so far in 2019. It kicked off with a silver medal at the EGAT's Cup International Weightlifting Championship.

Then, after a ninth place finish at the Asian Championships that saw him claim three world marks in what was quite a potent record-breaking showing.

Lalrinnunga also picked up a gold and silver medal in the Asian Youth Championship and the Asian Junior Championship respectively.

Lifting India’s Olympic chances

Prior to Lalrinnunga's silver-snaring endeavour, Chanu lifted 83kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk, culminating in a total lift of 194kg, a performance that, has to be said, was far below her personal best of 201kg. However, the points from the effort are bound to prove fruitful once the final rankings for Tokyo 2020 are decided.

Playing by the rules

For a weightlifter to qualify for Tokyo 2020, they need to have competed in at least one event in each of the three six-month periods between November 2018 and April 2020, at least six events overall and at least one gold and one silver-level event.