Thank you for bringing a big smile on the faces of 135 crore Indians: Anurag Thakur to Mirabai Chanu

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur thanked Mirabai Chanu for bringing smiles to the faces of 135 crore Indians as the weightlifter bagged silver in the Women's 49kg category at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"Let me first congratulate Mirabai Chanu. A big thank you and thank you on behalf of PM Modi and the entire country for bringing a big smile on the faces of 135 crore Indians. The first day, the first medal, a silver medal. You made the country proud," Anurag Thakur told ANI.

"We're so grateful to you and you inspire entire India, our Indian contingent in #TokyoOlympics and I'm sure the way you started on day 1, the other athletes are going to follow this and they are also going to make India proud," the minister added.

Chanu lifted a total of 202 kg (87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk) during her four successful attempts across the competition. China's Zhihui Hou bagged gold with a total of 210kg and created a new Olympic Record while Indonesia's Windy Cantika Aisah grabbed bronze with a total of 194kg.

With this monumental silver medal, Chanu has become the second Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal after Karnam Malleswari bagged bronze in the 69kg category at the 2000 Sydney Games when the weightlifting arena was opened to women for the first time.

( With inputs from ANI )

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