World Weightlifting Championships: From Kunjarani Devi to Mirabai Chanu - Full list of India’s medal winners
India have won 17 medals at the World Weightlifting Championships, which includes three golds from Olympic medallists Karnam Malleswari and Mirabai Chanu
The World Weightlifting Championships were first held in 1891, but it took India over a century to win their first medal at the competition.
Kunjarani Devi was the first Indian to win a medal at the World Weightlifting Championships in 1989 with a silver in the 44kg category in Manchester. At the same edition, Lalita Polley followed up with a bronze.
Kunjarani Devi went on to win seven silver medals at the world weightlifting championships, which is the most number of medals won by an Indian at the meet.
Led by Kunjarani Devi and Olympic bronze medallist Karnam Malleswari, Indian weightlifters bagged at least one medal at each of the seven editions from 1991 to 1997. In that period, Karnam Malleswari won two gold medals and two bronze at the world championships.
Over the next two decades, India had a barren run at the World Weightlifting Championships. Mirabai Chanu’s gold medal in 2017, however, provided India with a much-awaited breakthrough. Five years later, Tokyo Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal at the world championships to increase India’s tally.
So far, India have won 17 medals at World Weightlifting Championships which include three golds, nine silvers and five bronze.
World Weightlifting Championships: India medal winners
Kunjarani Devi
Manipur’s Kunjarani Devi has won the most medals by an Indian at the world weightlifting championships.
Kunjarani made her debut at the 1989 World Weightlifting Championships in Manchester, England, which was also her first international trip as an athlete.
Participating in the women’s 44kg, Kunjarani Devi lifted a total of 132.5kg (57.5kg snatch + 75kg clean and jerk) in the final to win a silver medal and claim India’s first podium at the World Weightlifting Championships. China’s Xing Fen, lifted a world record 165kg to win the gold medal.
Kunjarani Devi went on to win an incredible seven silver medals at the world championships from 1989 to 1997 - losing out to a Chinese competitor at every edition.
“They (Chinese) were just better prepared than us, to be honest,” Kunjarani Devi conceded. “My goal was always to take the fight to the Chinese. India was just discovering weightlifting as a sport while they already had all the systems in place and the blueprint for success.”
Karnam Malleswari
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Karnam Malleswari announced herself at the age of 18 by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 54kg category at the 1993 world championships in Melbourne. A year later in Istanbul, Karnam Malleswari scripted history by becoming the first world weightlifting champion from India by winning gold. Malleswari successfully defended her world title in 1995 and bagged another bronze in 1996.
While all of Karnam Malleswari’s four medals at the world championships were won in 54kg, her Olympic bronze medal at Sydney 2000 was won in 69kg, which made her the first Indian woman to ever bag a medal at the Olympics.
Mirabai Chanu
Mirabai Chanu hails from Kunjarani Devi’s home state of Manipur. The highly-rated Indian weightlifter failed to lift the country’s expectations at Rio 2016 Olympics but redeemed herself by winning the gold medal at the 2017 world championships held in Anaheim, USA with a competition record of 194kg (85kg snatch + 109kg clean and jerk)
Mirabai Chanu, now an Olympic medallist, also clinched a silver medal at the world championships in 2022 to further cement her place as one of India’s top athletes from the current generation.
Neelam Setti Laxmi
Neelam Setti Laxmi won a silver medal at the 1995 World Weightlifting Championships in Guangzhou, China for a total lift of 202.5kg in the 59kg category. In 1997, Neelam Setti Laxmi earned a bronze in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a total lift of 217.5kg (100kg snatch+117.5kg clean and jerk).
Bharti Singh
Bharti Singh is the only Indian lifter to win a medal in the heavyweight category at the world championships. She won the bronze medal at Melbourne in 1993 for a total lift of 207.5kg (90kg snatch+117.5kg clean and jerk) in women’s 83kg.
Lalita Polley
Lalita Polley won a bronze medal in the 56kg weight division at the 1989 world championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. She lifted a total of 160kg (77.5kg snatch + 87.5kg clean and jerk) to clinch India’s first bronze medal in the competition.