Mirabai to lead India’s challenge at World Weightlifting Champ

MUMBAI: With a few medallists from the Commonwealth Games including Jeremy Lalrinnunga still to recover from their injuries, India will field a five-member team led by Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu at the World Weightlifting Championships 2022 to be held in Bogota, Colombia next month.

With the likes of Lalrinnunga, who suffered a lower back and thigh injury while winning the gold medal in men's 67kg at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August, has not yet recovered fully and will, just like the Asian weightlifting championships last month, missing the event, the national selectors have picked four lifters for the event and will add one more name to the list.

Besides 2017 World Champion Mirabai Chanu (women's 49kg), Achinta Sheuli (men's 73kg), Bindyarani Devi (women's 59kg) and Gurdeep Singh (men's +109kg) will comprise the Indian team for the event which will be held from December 5 to 16 and will be a qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

"Jeremy has not yet recovered from the injury he suffered during the Commonwealth Games, He had to move up a weight category to 73kg as his original 67kg is not an Olympic discipline. Now he will do that in the next qualifying event," chief national weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma told IANS on Thursday.

The World Championship will also be a crucial event for Mirabai Chanu as it will be her first international competition since the Commonwealth Games.

Mirabai will also be India's main hope in the World Championship which is expected to be dominated by China in the lower-weight divisions.