CWG 2022 | Mirabai Chanu aims to better own world record

Mirabai Chanu stated that she will be her actual competition in Birmingham, not her rivals, which is not surprising. "CWG will be easy for me. I will be fighting with myself," Chanu asserts formally having already won a silver (2014) and gold (2018) in the CWG. "There is not much competition in CWG, but that doesn't mean there is no competition. I have to give my best performance keeping in mind the future tournaments," she stated during an open discussion at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS).

Chanu has higher goals in mind because there won't be any rivals. She is keen to break her personal 119kg clean and jerk record. "I am thinking of attempting 120kg in the CWG." In the snatch part, the former world champion aspires to break the much-anticipated 90 kg barrier, although she admits that it has become much more of a mental hurdle. "Yes (it has become a mental block). We have planned to lift 91kg or 92kg at the CWG. Hopefully, it will happen." But it's harder said than done, especially because Chanu still has a shoulder issue, to lift almost double your own weight.

Chanu has tried to improve her technique after becoming aware of her weakness in the snatch. I've never exceeded 88 kilos. I have decided on that weight. However, I am in a better position now in terms of my training than I was before the Olympics. We set the weights between 80 and 90 kg, which we regularly lift each day, to lift 90 kg in a competition. It's not as if we pull off 90 kg each day, she says. Her personal best lift of 88 kg is 8 kg lighter than China's Hou Zhihui, who won the gold medal in Tokyo and lifted 96 kg. "I have changed my snatch technique. In the snatch, while rising, the toes, back, and shoulder should be in a line. The back and shoulders are very important they need to move fast. Earlier my movement was not synchronized. Now I have changed it."

Chanu thanked the truckers who very often gave free trips to her training facility in Imphal, which was around 30 kilometers distant from her hometown when she won the silver in the Tokyo Games in a kind gesture. "I found all the truck drivers and because of Corona they were all sitting at home," Chanu reminisced. "They were really happy. I saw them and I thought of those days when they used to keep blowing their truck horns and I would run to get a lift. When I reflect, I remember all the difficulties I had to go through to reach here. But what to do, life is a cycle, kabhi upar kabhi neeche."