Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has finally achieved the Asian Games milestone that had eluded her for years. The 32-year-old won a historic silver medal in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday.
Competing at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Centre, Chanu lifted a combined 198kg, with 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. Her performance earned her the silver and ended her long wait for an Asian Games medal.
A historic medal for India
Chanu’s silver is significant for Indian weightlifting as it ended the country’s 28-year wait for an Asian Games medal in the sport.
She became India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medallist since Karnam Malleswari won silver at the 1998 Bangkok Games.
For Chanu, the medal also completed her collection at three major multi-sport events—the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
North Korea’s two-time Asian Games and world champion Ri Song-gum won the gold medal with a total lift of 210kg. Indonesia’s Wijayana Luluk Diani Tri took bronze with 191kg.
Chanu finally gets her Asian Games moment
The Asian Games medal had been one of the few major achievements missing from Chanu’s impressive career.
She made her Asian Games debut in 2014 but finished ninth. Four years later, an injury forced her to miss the 2018 Jakarta Games.
At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Chanu came agonisingly close to the podium, finishing fourth. A thigh injury affected her clean-and-jerk attempts and prevented her from securing a medal.
Three years later, she returned to Japan, the country where she had already created one of the biggest moments of her career by winning Olympic silver at the Tokyo Games.
This time, she finally stood on the Asian Games podium.
From Rio heartbreak to Olympic glory
Chanu’s journey has included some difficult moments. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she failed to register a valid lift, a result that became one of the toughest moments of her career.
But instead of allowing that setback to define her, she fought her way back.
Five years later, at the Tokyo Olympics, Chanu produced a remarkable comeback and won the silver medal, becoming one of the biggest stars of Indian weightlifting.
She also went on to win a world title and three Commonwealth Games gold medals.
Another milestone in Chanu’s career
With the Asian Games silver now added to her collection, Chanu has medals from the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
She has also become only the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to win medals across the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian Championships and Commonwealth Championships.
At the Aichi-Nagoya Games, Chanu kept her performance steady. She successfully opened with an 87kg snatch before lifting 111kg in the clean and jerk, finishing with a total of 198kg.
A medal years in the making
For almost 12 years, Chanu had been chasing an Asian Games medal. She faced missed opportunities, injuries and one of the most difficult setbacks of her career.
But her latest performance in Nagoya has finally completed the missing piece of her medal collection.
From finishing ninth at her first Asian Games to dealing with injuries and coming back from Olympic disappointment, Mirabai Chanu’s journey has been about resilience as much as it has been about medals.
Her historic silver not only adds another achievement to her decorated career but also ends India’s long wait for an Asian Games weightlifting medal.
