Mirabai Chanu clinches maiden gold medal at 2017 World Weightlifting Championship

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu bagged India’s first gold medal of the 2017 World Weightlifting Championship after she lifted a total of 194 kg in the 48kg category at Anaheim, USA. Chanu is the first Indian to claim the gold medal in over two decades at the Championship.

Chanu, who is employed with the Indian Railways, lifted 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to total an impressive 194kg in women’s 48kg weight category. She was also able to set a new national record in the process.

Seeing the tricolour from the podium, tears of joy rolled down her cheeks, as Chanu picked up a rare honour for an Indian at the marquee event.

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Olympic bronze medallist Karnam Malleshwari had won the top prize in worlds twice - in 1994 and 1995. Chanu’s outing in Anaheim was very different from the way things panned out in Rio 2016 when she put up a disappointing performance as she could not get an overall total in women’s 48kg after failing to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in clean & jerk section.

IWF WWC 2017 Women's 48kg:

🥇 Chanu Mirabai 🇮🇳 | 194
🥈 Thunya Sukcharoen 🇹🇭 | 193
🥉 Ana Segura 🇨🇴 | 182#2017iwfwwc pic.twitter.com/soupO70zyI

— IWF (@iwfnet) November 30, 2017

In a field of 12 lifters at the Rio Games, she was one of two lifters who did not finish (DNF) her event.Thailand’s Sukcharoen Thunya won the silver medal with a total lift of 193, while Segura Ana Iris bagged the bronze with 182kg.

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Some of the world’s top weightlifting nations such as Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Azerbaijan could not take part in the competition due to issues related to doping.

With PTI inputs