By Mirabai Chanu, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist, won her first Asian Games medal on September 23.
She took silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting with a total lift of 198kg.
Chanu has also won a Commonwealth Games gold and multiple World Championship medals in her career.
The event was held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Gold went to North Korea’s Ri Song-gum, who lifted a world record 215kg.
The event was held at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
It is Chanu’s first Asian Games medal, though she is a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist.
Gold went to North Korea’s Ri Song-gum, the reigning world champion and two-time defending Asian Games champion.
Ri Song-gum set a world record total lift of 215kg in winning gold.
It is India’s 15th Asian Games medal in weightlifting overall, but the first podium finish in the sport in 28 years.
Chanu had narrowly missed the podium at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
India’s medal tally at the Games has been rising steadily through the shooting, hockey, cricket and now weightlifting events.
Chanu has previously won an Olympic silver, a Commonwealth Games gold and multiple World Championship medals in her career.
The 49kg category is one of the lighter weight classes in women’s Olympic weightlifting.
Weightlifting competitions score athletes on the combined total of their best snatch and clean-and-jerk lifts.
India’s weightlifting federation has focused on strengthening its junior and youth pipelines in recent years.
The Asian Games weightlifting competition features multiple weight categories for both men and women.
Chanu’s Olympic silver came at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the same 49kg category.
Indian weightlifters have historically found the Asian Games a tougher stage than the Commonwealth Games, given the strength of East Asian competitors.
Weightlifting competition (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
