Watch: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu wins silver medal at World Championships
Olympic medall, Mirabai Chanu lifts a total of 200kg (87kg snatch + 113kg clean & jerk), 2kg more than Olympic champ from China Hou Zhihua (198kg) and 6kg behind another Chinese, Jiang Huihua (206kg: 93+113) who won the gold medal.
Mirabai started slowly with an 85kg lift in snatch, and even failed in her second attempt at 87kg before clearing her third with the same weight. She was fifth after the third attempt.
She failed on her first attempt at the clean and jerk but powered through to lift 111kg in her second attempt. This immediately lifted her into the medal positions.
It was Chanu’s second medal at a Worlds after having earlier won gold in the 2017 World Championships. Earlier this year she had clinched Commonwealth Games gold.
Chanu has a personal best of 207kg (88kg+119kg). She has been trying to breach the 90kg mark in the snatch category since 2020.
However, with the Olympics still a long way to go and the Asian Games scheduled in September, the Manipuri, who struggles with a back issue that affects her snatch, didn’t risk lifting 90kg at the marquee event.
The 2022 World Championships are the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be cut from 14 at Tokyo Games to 10.
