Modinagar, UP: To the world, Mirabai Chanu is the grinning weightlifter capable of pulling weights four times her body weight. For the children determined to follow in her footsteps at Weightlifting Warriors—the academy in Uttar Pradesh’s Modinagar where Mirabai is based for the last couple of years—she is just Mira didi.
Mira didi admonishes them when they slack off in training, playfully threatens to hit them with a rod, orders a Manipuri feast for them each time she returns with a medal, and does a movie night with them every Saturday. In return, the kids, largely in the 8-14 age bracket, pen heartfelt Teacher’s Day greetings for her, choreograph dance and skit performances on her birthday, and promise to carry forward her legacy when she calls it a day.
In the cut-throat, high-stress modern sport ecosystem, bonds such as these are a heartwarming barometer of how far an athlete has travelled. For the girl who lifted bundles of firewood for fun in Imphal East all those years ago, the moment of reckoning was more of a date with destiny as she stepped on the platform in Nagoya on Wednesday.
With a swift clean and jerk motion, Chanu lifted 111kg to end an agonising wait for that missing Asian Games medal, sending the young upstarts at her academy into delirium.
“You want to know how I feel? I just want to shout and eat,” exclaimed Bedabrat Bharali, an upcoming lifter who trains with Chanu. The 20-year-old from Dibrugarh in Assam is a two-time Youth World Championships medallist (bronze in 2023, gold in 2024) and a two-time Commonwealth Youth champion (2023, 2024).
Bharali is among the 100-odd trainees at the academy that was started by national coach Vijay Sharma soon after the Paris Olympics in 2024.
“Didi really wanted this medal. It was the only medal missing in her cabinet and we are super proud of her,” he said. Also dancing in delight was 10-year-old Somorin. Hailing from Manipur, the staunch Cristiano Ronaldo fan was scouted by Sharma and his team late last year, and he joined the academy this January. Weighing 30kg, he already back squats 40kg and front squats 35kg.
Lanthobai, also from Manipur, is a shy nine-year-old who looks up to Chanu. After a few sessions at Sarita Devi’s boxing academy in Imphal, Lanthobai turned to weightlifting, was scouted by Sharma for the academy.
“We were all waiting for Mirabai to get that medal. We know how hard she trained for it and how badly she wanted it,” an academy coach said.
At sharp 10am (IST) when Chanu’s event was due to begin, the kids, in crew cut and dressed in blue, sat in front of the projector and began cheering for her. The first sight of Chanu on the screen sent then into raptures, slowly building up to a crescendo, an almighty cheer erupting when the silver medal was assured.
Bollywood music blared from the speakers and the kids reluctantly began to groove. Reservations were finally shed when the playlist switched to Manipuri folk. Egged on by international weightlifter Martina Devi who also trains here, they all joined in and danced with abandon. A felicitation is in order when Chanu and Sharma return, as is an elaborate, traditional Manipuri menu for a communal meal.
“It’s a little tradition we have here. Every time she comes back with a medal, the kids perform a welcome dance, we have a feast and Mirabai gives them a pep talk. I guess the celebrations will be bigger and louder this time,” the coach said.
The academy has 45 residential trainees—it can accommodate 60—while the rest are budding local athletes. While Manipuri kids form the bulk of the intake (20), there is decent representation from Assam (13) as well. There are four trainees from Uttar Pradesh, three from Maharshtra, one each from Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
So far, Sharma and his team have done six scouting trips and are planning to take a few more this year. “There were many who called my decision to leave NIS Patiala and set up a facility here foolhardy, but I thought I’ll be able to manage the athletes better here,” Sharma, who hails from Modinagar, told HT before leaving for the Asian Games.
And so, he renovated a three-storey family property and converted it into a fully-functional weightlifting academy with sauna, steam, mess and hostel. It has seven coaches, three physios, two masseuse and ten housekeeping and kitchen staff, all supported by Olympic Gold Quest. All its cabinet didn’t have was an Asiad medal. It has one now.