CWG 2022: Mirabai Chanu clinches gold medal in Women's 49kg final

BIRMINGHAM: Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won a gold medal with a combined lift of 201kg in the Women's 49kg final at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Saturday.

Mirabai added one more gem to her crown and took home the gold as she added another medal to India's tally on day 2 of the CWG with a total of 201kg.

In her first attempt at the Snatch category, Mirabai made a great start and successfully lifted 84kg. Mirabai successfully lifted the required 88kg in her second. She performed her personal best at the level of representing India. In the final attempt of the Snatch category, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist failed to lift 90kg with exhibiting stunning power.

Mirabai created a new Commonwealth Games record by lifting 88kg in her second attempt in the snatch round.

She leads the race with a 12-kg gap with second-placed Marie Hanitra Roilya Ranaivosoa. In the Clean and Jerk lift category, Mirabai exhibited a stunning display of power as she lifted 109kg in her first attempt.

In her second attempt, she lifted 113kg. In her final attempt at this category, she failed to lift 115kg but she did not fail to clinch the first gold medal for India in this multi-sports event in 2022.

Talking about her stunning career, The Manipuri weightlifter bagged a silver medal for India on the opening day of the prestigious showpiece event in the 49 Kg weight category lifting 202 Kg (87+115) (including both snatch and clean & jerk).

The 28-year-old bagged her first Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow in 2014 by winning a silver in the 48 Kg weight category. In Rio Olympics 2016 she failed but bounced back two years later to win a gold medal in the 2017 World Championship.

She carried it with her rich run of form to win a gold medal in Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. But her real test came in 2021 in Tokyo Olympics when she bounced back from her previous Olympics debacle to become the first Indian weightlifter to win a silver medal in the Olympics and only the second Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal after Karnam Malleswari who won a bronze in Sydney Olympics 2000.