New Delhi: A brief hiccup notwithstanding, there was a degree of pre-ordained certainty about Mirabai Chanu as she stepped up to lift the barbell at SEC Armadillo in Glasgow.
Having begun her Commonwealth Games journey in the Scottish city back in 2014 when she won silver as a fresh-faced 19-year-old, Chanu has since become the undisputed queen of Indian weightlifting, winning every medal there is — except at the Asian Games — and ensuring her legacy in Indian sport.
Commonwealth Games were never supposed to test her. Chanu and coach Vijay Sharma have that elusive Asian Games medal firmly in their sights for which they’ll be in Japan in two months. On Sunday, the 31-year-old lifter ensured she left the platform with multiple records in 48kg division.
The snatch record fell first, then the clean and jerk, and that accounted for a new mark in total lift. The top finish completed her golden hat-trick at CWG, following wins in Gold Coast (2018) and Birmingham (2022).
Chanu entered a CWG record of 82kg as her opening weight in snatch, but uncharacteristically failed. Unperturbed, she returned to lift that weight and set the record. She went three kg up in her final snatch attempt and succeeded, setting a new Commonwealth and CWG record.
In clean and jerk round, Chanu again entered a CWG record weight of 105 kg but couldn’t complete the lift on the first try. She returned to correct the anomaly, beaming in triumph as she aggregated a commanding 190kg (85kg in snatch and 105kg in clean and jerk).
“Mirabai has cut down 2.5kg to make the weight. It is not easy. That is why she didn’t go too hard in this competition,” coach Sharma said, explaining how she went about the lifts.
A measure of her dominance can be gauged from silver medallist Ruth Asuquo Nyong of Nigeria finishing with a total lift of 168kg, 22kg less than Mirabai. Malaysia’s Irene Jane Henry took bronze (167kg). The gold was India’s India’s first of the Games. It was India’s second medal of the day, both in lifting, and third overall, following para powerlifter Jhandu Kumar’s bronze on Saturday.
Standing atop the podium, Chanu welled up. “Watching the Indian flag go up and hearing our national anthem made me a little emotional. They were tears of joy because I had won the first gold medal for India in this Games,” she said.
Having come down to 48kg, Chanu revealed her struggle reduce weight.
“When I used to compete in 49kg, I didn’t have to be quite as strict with control, but 48kg is a real battle. Maintaining that body weight is a huge challenge. Since this was my last Commonwealth Games in 48kg, I told myself I could do it. For an athlete, controlling body weight is often the toughest fight. I just paid close attention to my diet and kept telling myself I could pull it off.”
The three-time Olympian will compete in 48kg at the Asian Games after which she’ll move up to 53kg for the 2028 LA Olympics.
“We’ll take it as it comes,” Sharma said over phone from Glasgow. “Our main target is the Asian Games. That’s one medal missing from her cabinet.”
Despite the win, Sharma acknowledged it wasn’t a flawless outing. “She missed her first lifts in snatch and clean and jerk. It shouldn’t have happened. We set high standards for ourselves and such lapses shouldn’t happen. There was a lapse in concentration, but we’ll address that in training.”
Chanu’s fellow Manipur lifter Rishikanta Singh won silver in men’s 60kg. The 28-year-old matched the CWG record in snatch with 121kg to enter the clean and jerk competition in the lead. However, he managed only 143kg after failing in his last two attempts, finishing with a total of 264kg.
Malaysia’s Mohamad Aniq Kasdan took gold with a Games record 152kg in clean and jerk for a total of 273kg. Kenya’s Joshua Amunga Mboya took bronze (260kg).
Rishikanta later revealed that a knee injury suffered a week before competition resurfaced during clean and jerk, robbing him of the power needed to complete his heavier lifts.
Swimmers in final
In swimming, the Indian men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team qualified for the eight-team final after finishing third in their heat. Dhakshan Shashikumar, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda, Aryan Nehra and Srihari Nataraj clocked 7:39.48 to finish behind Australia and England in their heat, qualifying sixth fastest overall.
There was disappointment in bowls, where Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh saw their three-match winning streak end with a narrow defeat to Namibia in women’s pairs.
In women’s boxing, Preeti Pawar (54kg) beat Deborah Mtenje of Malawi in the Round of 16 with the referee stopping the contest (RSC) in the second round.
