World Weightlifting Championship 2019: Mirabai Chanu looks to repeat 2017 feat to earn Tokyo Olympics berth
Former champion Mirabai Chanu will look to repeat her 2017 gold-medal winning feat and seal an Olympic spot when she leads the Indian contingent at the World Weightlifting Championship, starting on Wednesday in Pattaya. She is hoping to reach the 210kg mark until the Tokyo Olympics arrive.
The ace Indian weightlifter, Mirabai Chanu looks to repeat her 2017 gold medal-winning success at the World Weightlifting Championship en route to earning a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. She will be spearheading the Indian contingent at the 2019 edition of the tournament starting on Wednesday in Pattaya.
The 25-year-old, who jumped from 48kg to 49kg following the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) decision to rejig weight categories, has logged personal bests at two of the three events that she has competed this year after recovering from a lower back injury.
In the Asian Championships, she lifted a personal best of 199kg (86kg+113kg) but missed out on the podium spot as China's Zhang Rong also had the same total of 199kg (88kg+111kg) but was ranked higher, owing to a better snatch score.
Thai weightlifter Chayuttra Pramongkhol, who had broken the World record in the women's 49kg category by lifting 209kgs (89+120) to secure the gold in the 2018 edition, is currently embroiled in a dope scandal. Meanwhile, the Chinese grabbed the other two podium spots, Hou Zhihui won the silver by lifting 208kg and Jiang Huihua took home the bronze by lifting 206kg.
The two Chinese weightlifters have logged an entry weight of 210kg, a staggering 10kg more than Mirabai's 200kg. Ri Song-gum of North Korea and Dominican Republic's Beatriz Piron have also set it at 200kg.
The diminutive Manipuri is aware of the competition posed by the Chinese and is working towards reaching the 210kg mark in time, "I have lifted 203kg in training. My aim is 210kg but it has to be done slowly, hopefully till Tokyo, I will be able to achieve it," Mirabai told PTI.
National coach Vijay Sharma has established the importance of Mirabai lifting more than 200kg to put up a fight against the Chinese, "The World Championship is the most important competition for us and we have to improve our total here. Mira's target is 200 plus. We have to achieve 203kg-205kg target only then can we give a good fight to the Chinese," he said.
Among the male lifters, all eyes will be on Youth Olympic Games gold medallist 16-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga.
The teenager from Mizoram he smashed the Youth World and Asian records with an effort of 297kg (134kg+163kg) at the Asian Championships.
However, a podium finish seems unlikely as Jeremy has set an entry weight of 305kg to be placed in the B Category.
At the 2018 Worlds, the gold was won with a lift of 332kg, while the silver and bronze went for 323kg and 322kg respectively.
Other Indians in the fray, include Commonwealth Championship gold medallist Ajay Singh (81kg) and national champion Achinta Sheuli (73kg).
A lifter has to compete in a minimum of two qualifying tournaments in three separate qualifying cycles — November 2018 to April 2019, May 2019 to October 2019 and November 2019 to April 2020. While none of the athletes will be able to qualify for the Tokyo Games from this tournament alone, a good performance at the gold level Olympic qualifying event will bolster their chances of making it to the Games next year.
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