Mirabai Chanu won silver for India in the 49kg Weightlifting. The 26-year-old buried her ghosts from the Rio Olympics, where she failed to earn a podium finish. Despite her recent struggles with injuries, she has come back stronger, and made the entire nation proud of her efforts. Mirabai Chanu entered her category as one of the favorites for a medal, after having claimed a gold medal at the recently held Asian Championships.
Her total across both snatch, and clean and jerk categories totaled to 202kgs, which was more than enough to assure her of a silver medal. After her historic win, Mirabai took to Twiter and shared a official statement saying the achievement is a dream come true for her. "It's really a dream come true for me. I would like to dedicate this medal to my country and would like to thank the billion prayers of all Indians which were with me during this journey. I like to thank my family especially my mother for a lot of sacrifices and believing in me," said Chanu in a statement posted on her Twitter account."Also special thanks to our government for supporting me, Ministry of Sports, SAI, I0A, Weightlifting Federation of India, Railways, OGQ, sponsors, and my marketing agency IOS for their continuous support in this journey," she added. Further in her statement, Chanu said: "I would like to give special thanks to my coach Vijay Sharma sir and support staff for their continuous hard work, motivation, and training. Thank you once again entire weightlifting fraternity and all my countrymen." Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the many who congratulated Mirabai Chanu on the historic feat.