- Silver in Olympic weightlifting in 49kg category
- Manipuri athlete dances in joy
- Chinese lifter wins the gold
Tokyo: India ended its wait for 21 years for an Olympic medal in weightlifting on Saturday here. India’s Karnam Malleswari (from Andhra Pradesh) won the bronze medal in 2020 Olympics. Mirabai Chanu won India’s first silver medal in Olympics weightlifting in the 49kg category. It was the first medal for India this time. Mirabai,26, lifted a total of 202 kg (87kg + 115kg) to better Malleswari’s bronze record in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Chanu failed in 2016 Olympics and proved her worth this time. The gold medal in this category went to China’s Hou Zhihui with an effort of 210 kg (94kg + 116kg).Aisah WindyCantika of Indonesia got the brone medal with an effort of 194kg (84k + 110kg).
The Manipuri athlete lifted 84kg as a starter. Then she took up 87kg after failing to lift 89kg. She was next only to Zhihui who holds the world mark of 96kg in this category. In the clean jerk section in which Chanu holds world record, she lifted 110kg and 115kg in the first two attempts. She tried to lift 117kg in final attempt but failed. When she realized that she won a medal, the Manipuri broke down out of joy and also danced to celebrate her historic win.
