Mirabai Chanu misses podium finish while battling injury at Asian Weightlifting Championships

A pain in the hip joint robbed India's 2020 Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu of a podium finish at the Asian Weightlifting Championships on Friday, April 5. She was competing in the women’s 49kg category of the event, taking place in Jinju, South Korea.

Due to the pain, the 27-year-old pulled out midway during the clean-and-jerk event and eventually finished at a disappointing sixth position, with a total lift of 194kg. She lifted 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk.

In her first attempt, Mirabai lifted 109kg in clean and jerk. The weight on the barbells was increased to 115kg in her second attempt to stay on course for a podium finish, but the pain got intense and she didn’t step on the platform.

“She (Mirabai) had to withdraw from the competition as the pain increased in the hip joint,” Vijay Sharma, India’s chief coach said from Jinju.

Earlier in the snatch, Mirabai was successful in lifting 85kg in her first attempt, but struggled to lift 88kg in her second and third attempts.

Since the Asian Weightlifting Championships is one of the qualification events for the Paris Olympic Games, Mirabai’s sixth-place finish will impact her world ranking.

In April, Mirabai Chanu was ranked number two in women's 49kg, behind China’s Jiang. This was due to the latter's 200kg performance in Bogota during the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships held in December 2022.

According to the IWF rules, the top 10 ranked athletes in each bodyweight category at the end of the qualification round will book their tickets for Paris 2024.

Meanwhile, the battle for the gold medal in Jinju on Friday was between two Chinese lifters - Jiang Huihua and Hou Zhihui.

Jiang edged past compatriot Hou to win gold with a total lift of 207kg (snatch 94kg; clean and jerk 113kg). Hou won silver with a total lift of 204kg (snatch 93kg; clean and jerk 111kg).

Thailand’s Thanyathon Sukcharoen and Surodchana Khambao both lifted a total of 200kg. But Thanyathon with more successful lifts finished third.