The 2022 World Weightlifting Championships will be held in December in Colombia. Indian fans will be focusing on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu for the event.
India's Weightlifting Federation will field a four-member national team at the global competition that is set to be played between December 5-16 in Bogota. It will be an important event for aspiring athletes since it will be the first qualification platform for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Mirabai will compete in the 49kg division. India's other female weightlifter, Bindyarani Devi, will take part in the 59kg division. Bindyarani finished with a silver medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games held in July 2022 in the 55kg category.
India's two male weightlifters for the competition in Colombia are Achinta Sheuli and Gurdeep Singh. Sheuli was the gold medal winner in the 73kg division at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, while Gurdeep took bronze in the plus 109kg category at the same event.
Mirabai competed at the Gujarat National Games but opted to sit out the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain in order to better prepare for the World Weightlifting Championships.
India's chief national coach Vijay Sharma said that adapting to the difference in timezone between India and the South American country Colombia will play a key role in the performance of the selected athletes. In order to get better accustomed to the situation, the Indian contingent is set to leave early for Bogota.
Sharma said:
“Competing in Bogota’s high altitude will be challenging. The Indian team practiced at Patiala’s National Institute of Sports (NIS), which is at lower altitude.”
Jeremy Lalrinnunga will miss the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships
Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who suffered an elbow injury at the 2022 Commonwealth Games is yet to recover completely. He will miss the World Weightlifting Championships in Colombia.
Speaking about Lalrinnunga, Sharma said:
“Since July he is undergoing rehabilitation at NIS in Patiala. Jeremy is unfit and it will take time to regain his fitness."
CWG 2022 55kg silver medalist Sanket Sargar is also not ready and is currently undergoing rehab in Patiala. The young weightlifter from Sangali, Maharashtra, was injured en route to winning his medal in Birmingham in July 2022. Sargar had to go under the knife to recover from his elbow pain.
Sharma said:
“Sargar is yet to start lifting barbells as he is still undergoing rehabilitation in Patiala."