Chennai, November 30 : Manipur’s Mirabai Chanu became the first Indian in over two decades to win a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, USA. She is the second Indian Weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to achieve this feat after 1995.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu wins gold medal at World Weightlifting Championship. Image Courtesy: PTI
Chanu, who is employed with the Indian Railways, lifted 85 kg in ‘snatch’ and 109 kg in ‘clean and jerk’ to total an impressive 194 kg in the women’s 48 kg category, thereby setting a new national record.
IWF WWC 2017 Women’s 48 kg:
🥇 Chanu Mirabai 🇮🇳 | 194
🥈 Thunya Sukcharoen 🇹🇭 | 193
🥉 Ana Segura 🇨🇴 | 182#2017iwfwwc pic.twitter.com/soupO70zyI— IWF (@iwfnet) November 30, 2017
Chanu’s outing in Anaheim was different from her efforts in Rio last year when she put up a “disappointing” performance as she could not get an overall total in women’s 48 kg after failing to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in clean & jerk section.
Other winners at the WWC 2017 include Thailand’s Sukcharoen Thunya won the silver medal with a total lift of 193 kg, while Segura Ana Iris bagged the brozne with 182 kg. Testing positive for dope tests, many contestants could not participate.
By Shreyal Jain with inputs from Agency