Mirabai Chanu betters her own record at the National Weightlifting Championship

Former world champion Mirabai Chanu won the gold medal by breaking her own national record by lifting 203 kg weight in the 49 kg category of National Weightlifting Championship in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old player from Manipur who was playing for Railways lifted 88 kg in her second attempt in snatch and bettered the previous mark by one kg, and then she lifted a total of 203 kg to eclipse the previous record with 115 kg lift in clean and jerk. This was the second occasion where the Manipur weightlifter, who is one of the best medal prospects for Tokyo Olympics 2020, managed to surpass the 200kg-mark.

With this effort, Mirabai has moved up to fourth place in the world rankings. Mirabai is just behind China’s Jiang Huihua (212 kg) and Hou Zhihui (211 kg) and Noth Korea’s Ri Songgum (209 kg).

Earlier, Mirabai had a national record of 201 kg which she set during the World Championship in Thailand in September last year where she finished fourth.

Mirabai aimed to lift 207 kg, but she failed in her last attempt of snatch and clean and jerk. Sanjita Chanu, Mirabai’s fellow weightlifter from the railways, finished second by lifting a total of 185 kg with a weight of 80 kg in snatch and 105 kg in clean and jerk. T. Priyadarshini of Telangana who lifted a total weight of 168 (70 + 98) kg finished third on the podium.

In the men’s 73kg category, Tamil Nadu’s N Ajit won the gold medal with a national record.

He lifted 140 kg in snatch, while 170 kg in clean and jerk lifted a total of 310 kg. Commonwealth Games gold medalist Achinta Sheuli was four kg behind him to take the second spot on the podium. He did his personal best, lifting 138 kg in snatch, while he lifted a total of 306 kg with 168 kg in clean and jerk. Kanhu Sahu of Odisha won the bronze medal by lifting 290 (128 + 162) kg.