City
Epaper

Chanu aims for Olympic berth at World Weightlifting C'ship

By IANS | Updated: September 17, 2019 18:10 IST

Ace weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will aim to seal an Olympic spot when she leads the Indian challenge at the World Weightlifting Championship, starting here on Wednesday. Chanu had won the gold in the 48kg category at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championship.

Open in App

She was down with a lower back injury but made a commendable comeback.

The 25-year-old jumped from 48kg to 49kg following the International Weightlifting Federation's (IWF) decision to rejig weight categories.

This year, Chanu lifted a personal best of 199kg (86kg+113kg) but missed out on the podium by a whisker at the Asian Championships.

Chanu will be competing alongside 2018's silver and bronze medal winners China's Hou Zhihui, who is also the current world record holder in the 49kg category, and Jiang Huihua respectively.

Coming to the male lifters, Youth Olympic Games gold medallist teenager Jeremy Lalrinnunga will be the cynosure of all eyes.

At 16, the Mizoram boy won the silver medal in the EGAT Cup, lifting 131kg in snatch and 157kg in clean and jerk.

At the Asian Championships, he smashed the Youth World and Asian records with an effort of 297kg (134kg+163kg).

Other Ind in the fray are Commonwealth Championship gold medallist Ajay Singh (81kg) and national champion Achinta Sheuli (73kg).

This meet alone would not be enough for athletes to qualify for the Tokyo Games but a good show at the gold level Olympic qualifying event will sharpen their chances of making it to the Games next year.

Squad:

Men: Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg), Achinta Sheuli (73 kg), Ajay Singh (81 kg)

Women: Mirabai Chanu (49 kg), Jhilli Dalabehera (45 kg), Sneha Soren (55kg), Rakhi Halder (64kg) .

( With inputs from IANS )

Open in App

Related Stories

LifestyleLotus Mangalsutra Designs : 10 Designs Of Lotus Mangalsutra Trending Lotus Mangalsutra

Entertainment“There’s Something in This Film That’s Missing Today — Hope”: Vidhu Vinod Chopra on Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate

Other SportsHave no doubt that Stubbs will do some amazing stuff in SA20, says Duminy

BusinessAligning Interests, Amplifying Opportunities: Inside Two X Capital's Performance-First Investment Platform

NationalUN Fails in Reforms, Facing Financial Crunch With More US Cuts

Other Sports Realted Stories

Other SportsFive facts about Tiigers of Kolkata ahead of ISPL season 3

Other SportsSri Lanka appoints Vikram Rathour as batting coach ahead of T20 WC 2026

Other SportsSarfaraz Khan slams fastest List A half-century by an Indian

Other SportsNRAI suspends shooting coach Ankush Bharadwaj after sexual assault allegations, issues show cause notice 

Other SportsSports Governance Conclave organised to align federations with Viksit Bharat vision