Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu defended her Commonwealth Games title with a gold medal in the 49kg category in Birmingham on Saturday in a lopsided contest.
India’s Mirabai Chanu in action during the 49kg snatch event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday. Screengrab/Sony Liv
India’s Saikhom Mirabai Chanu defended her Commonwealth Games title with a gold medal in the 49kg category in Birmingham on Saturday in a lopsided contest. On the way to the gold, Mirabai lifted 201 kg (snatch: 88kg + clean and jerk: 113 kg) to set the new Commonwealth Games record.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist also matched her personal best in snatch of 88kg while setting the Games and Commonwealth record. Mauritania’s Roilya Ranaivosoa (172kg) and Canada’s Hannah Kaminski (171kg) settled for silver and bronze medals respectively.
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Beginning the event as the No. 1 in Commonwealth ranking, Mirabai’s entry weight of 80kg in snatch was 10kgs more than her nearest rival in Ranaivosoa. However, not paying heed to the lack of competition, the 27-year-old Indian made an attempt to breach her national record of 88kg (set in 2020) by attempting a lift of 90kg in her third attempt.
Her weakness in the snatch, however, was evident once again as Mirabai failed to go beyond her personal best but did post the Games and Commonwealth record by lifting 88kg in her second attempt. The previous best was also held by the Indian at 86kgs in 2018 Gold Coast.
Her lift was also head and shoulder above Ranaivosoa, who lifted 76kg for the second spot in the category. The world record in the category stands with Mirabai’s arch rival and Olympic gold medallist Hou Zhihui at 96kg.
Speaking days ahead of the CWG, national coach Vijay Sharma revealed they were targetting for a new snatch national record at the Games.
Later in the clean and jerk category, where Mirabai’s personal best stands at 119kg, the Indian elite lifter lifted 113kgs in her second attempt to rewrite her Games record to 201kg. In a battle with herself while the second best Ranaivosoa stopped at 96kg, Mirabai did made an attempt to lift 114kg but failed at it.
Mirabai’s toughest test would be at the World Championship in Colombia late in the year, where she would come across her Chinese and Korean rivals.
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