Mirabai Chanu lived up to the hype by winning the women's 49kg weightlifting final at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022.
Digital Desk: One of India's top gold medal contenders, Mirabai Chanu, lived up to the hype by winning the nation's first gold medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 in the women's 49kg weightlifting final.
Chanu, who won gold in Gold Coast four years ago, not only successfully defended her title by squatting 201 kg (88 kg in snatch and 113 kg in clean and jerk), but she also broke a Games record.
Sanket Sargar won silver and Gururaja Poojary won bronze in their respective weightlifting events, and Chanu's efforts gave India its third medal of the day—all three in weightlifting.
The fact that Chanu outweighed Mauritius' Marie Ranaivosoa, who won the silver medal, by a whopping 29 kg gives an idea of how dominant her performance was. Chanu's turn took a while to come, but you could tell she was the next one when the support staff added weight to the barbells.
Chanu lifted 84 kg in his first attempt, outperforming the next-best lifter by 8 kg. Chanu quickly reached her personal best and established a CWG record in her subsequent snatch attempt, adding four more kilogrammes and effortlessly lifting 88 kilograms. One of the pre-CWG rumours surrounding Chanu was whether or not she would be able to lift 90 kg.
However, the outcome of the competition wasn't significantly impacted by the minor error. Chanu set the record and won India's first gold medal at this edition of the CWG by lifting 109 kg in just her first attempt of the clean and jerk.
However, Chanu wasn't satisfied there. She added 4 kg to her second attempt, wrapped her hands tightly around the barbell, and lifted an incredible 113 kg. Chanu's final attempt was at 115 kg, and even though she struggled to land it successfully, it made no difference. The Indian National Anthem could now be heard loud and clear throughout the arena.
The Manipuri weightlifter, who competes with her inner quest to push the limits, is in a class of her own at the CWG level. Her personal best at the Asian Championships last year (86 kg snatch + 119 kg clean and jerk, a world record) has been listed as Chanu's entry total for Saturday (205 kg). Nigerian Stella Kingsley, who last year lifted a personal best of 168 kg, is one of her 10 closest competitors in the 49 kg division.
India has been one of the CWG's weightlifting powerhouses in the past, boasting an impressive number of medals. Weightlifters from the nation won nine medals at the Gold Coast Games four years prior, including Chanu in the 48 kg division who won five of them in gold.
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