Senior weightlifters including Mirabai Chanu choose rehabilitation over World Championship
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Mirabai Chanu, Satish Sivalingam and Venkat Rahul Ragala have chosen to stay away from the World Championship as they want some more time to rest and rehabilitate before they move ahead. India will send its B team comprising to the prestigious event scheduled to be held in November in Turkmenistan.
After a successful haul of nine weightlifting medals at the Commonwealth games 2018, a good rehabilitation process was much needed for the Senior weightlifters. However, it couldn't happen due to certain circumstances pertaining to which most of them were not completely fit to go ahead and compete at the Asian Games in Jakarta, as a result, India failed to earn a single medal. The senior weightlifters have now realised that such a dismal performance is not acceptable and they need to take certain measures to make it up for the same and therefore they have taken the decision of not participating in the World Championship so that they get more time for rehabilitation.
“Senior players have not had the time to rest since the Commonwealth Games in April. After the CWG, they were supposed to attend a rehabilitation camp but things didn’t go as per plan. Some lifters went home, some went elsewhere. The players completely wasted about a month in this. The result was that they were unable to get the rest their body required. As a result, we had a dismal Asian Games outing. It was a major setback for us,” National coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.
Mirabai Chanu gained popularity after winning a gold medal at the World Championship event last year in the US. She also broke the games record by lifting 194kg in total and won the gold medal at the Commonwealth games 2018. She has also been recommended for the Khel Ratna award which is the highest sporting honour by the central government. She is currently undergoing a treatment for a lower back injury in Mumbai due to which she won't be able to take part in the World Championship event.
“The pain has reduced a little. The doctor said the injury happened due to excessive load. I have started light weight training,” she said.
Indian weightlifting team failed to win any medals at the Asian games. Ajay Singh and Sathish finished fifth and 10th respectively in the men’s 77kg category with the latter injuring himself in one of his attempts and Vikas Thakur finished eighth in the men’s 94kg category. This has made coach Vijay Sharma worry about the tournaments lined up ahead and most importantly the 2020 Olympics.
“We need to focus on qualifying for the Olympics. It is important to set the team well. The lifters need to go through proper rehab before participating in any event. Most of the players have already started the program,” Sharma said.
The World Championship 2018 is one out of the ten steps to be crossed in order to successfully qualify for the 2020 Japan Olympics. But since the senior players have opted out, India will be sending its B team which comprises upcoming weightlifters of the country. The senior players will complete there rehab and shall start competing at the Asian Championship to be held in China in April next year.
“We are required to participate in any six of the 10 qualifying events. World championship is just one of them. After the World Championship, the next event will be the Asian Championship in China next year. We are targeting that event now.” the coach concluded.
