Tokyo: India's star weightlifter Saekhom Mirabai Chanu has won India's first silver medal in the 49 kg weight class event in Tokyo Olympics on Saturday. With this, she has become the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics for India. She lifted 87 kg in the 49 kg weight class, while 115 kg in clean and jerk. So, they lifted a total of 202 kg. This is the best performance by India in Olympic weightlifting so far. Karnam Malleswari had earlier won a bronze medal for the country at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. During that time, he lifted 110 kg in snatch and 130 kg in clean and jerk and lifted a total load of 240 kg.

Who is Mirabai Chanu?

Mirabai Chanu was born on August 8, 1994, in Imphal, the capital of Manipur. Mirabai Chanu, 26, was fond of archery as a child and earlier dreamt of pursuing a career in it. But after class 8, she turned to weightlifting and then decided to move on. In fact, Chanu, considering Imphal weightlifter Kunjarani as his inspiration, also started his efforts to pursue a career in weightlifting. Chanu won his first gold medal in a local weightlifting event at the age of 11. Later, she started his international weightlifting career by participating in the World and Asian Junior Championships, where she won medals in both.

Mirabai Chanu has won several medals for the country so far. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Mirabai made it to the Rio Olympics by defeating her inspiration weightlifter Kunjarani in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games qualifying match. Mirabai won a gold medal in the 48kg weight class at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships. Chanu also won a gold medal at the Common Wealth Games in 2018. During the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent in April 2021, Mirabai Chanu set a new world record by lifting 119 kg in the women's 49kg clean and jerk.

It wasn't so easy for Mirabai Chanu to get here. They have struggled a lot to fulfill their dreams, so they have achieved this milestone today. Throughout this journey, Chanu was fully supported by his family. Even after the family's financial condition did not improve, their parents faced every difficulty, fulfilling many other requirements, ranging from Chanu's dietary needs, as a result of which Chanu is constantly raising the name of his family and country. Tell you that she was awarded The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest civilian sports honor, in 2018. Chanu has also been awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2018.

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