Mirabai Chanu Wins Maiden Asian Games Medal, Ends India’s 28-Year Weightlifting Wait

Mirabai Chanu finally secured the Asian Games medal that had remained missing from her illustrious career, winning silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event in Nagoya on Wednesday.

Her combined lift of 198kg also ended India’s 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the continental Games. North Korea’s Ri Song Gum successfully defended her title for a third consecutive Asian Games gold, finishing with 215kg. Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with a total of 191kg.

Chanu’s silver marked India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari won silver in Bangkok in 1998.

A Medal Four Games in the Making

The podium finish capped a long and difficult Asian Games journey for Chanu. She placed ninth at the 2014 Incheon Games, missed the 2018 Jakarta edition because of a back injury and narrowly missed a medal in Hangzhou in 2023, where an injury during the clean and jerk affected her performance.

She arrived in Nagoya in confident form after winning her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow earlier this year. There, she lifted 85kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk. The Asian Games, however, featured a stronger field, with reigning champion and world champion Ri among her leading rivals.

How Chanu Secured Silver

Chanu began strongly in the snatch, successfully completing all three attempts and finishing with 87kg. Ri established an early advantage by lifting 94kg, putting the Indian under pressure heading into the clean and jerk.

Chanu opened with 107kg and followed it with a successful 111kg second attempt, taking her overall total to 198kg. That proved decisive for the silver medal after Wijayana failed to complete her 107kg clean and jerk attempt.

Ri remained comfortably ahead. After lifting 116kg, she successfully attempted 121kg, setting a new world record and taking her total to 215kg.

Although Chanu could not close the gap for gold, her two successful clean and jerk attempts were enough to secure the silver and finally put her on the Asian Games podium.

Ending India’s 28-Year Wait

The significance of Chanu’s achievement goes beyond her personal medal tally. Malleswari’s silver in Bangkok in 1998 had been India’s last Asian Games weightlifting medal. Since then, no Indian weightlifter had managed to return to the podium.

Chanu’s 198kg total has now ended that 28-year drought.

The medal also completes a rare gap in Chanu’s decorated international career. She has already won Olympic and World Championship medals and three successive Commonwealth Games gold medals, but an Asian Games medal had continued to elude her.

That wait ended in Nagoya.

At 31, Chanu finally added an Asian Games medal to her collection, while simultaneously restoring India to the continental weightlifting podium after nearly three decades.