New Delhi: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, an Olympic silver medalist, begins her preparations for the Commonwealth Games and the Asiad this week with a month-long training internship in the US.
India’s 27-year-old weightlifting head coach, Vijay Sharma, will fly to St. Louis, US, on Thursday night for a minimum stay of one month.
“We have planned a 4-5 week stay from now on, but we can also increase it,” Sharma told PTI.
“We’ll see how it goes there. The plan now is to be there until the last week of April, but we will review progress after a month and then decide whether to extend our stay or not,” Sharma added.
hannah, struggling in the snatch section due to an imbalance affecting her right shoulder and back, had benefited greatly from consulting Dr. Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter turned physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach in the US prior to the Tokyo Olympics.
In an interview with PTI last month, little Manipuri had expressed her enthusiasm to reunite with Dr. Horschig to work for rehabilitation and endurance training.
“We are in talks to go in March, which is our off-season. I’m going there with the rehabilitation and technique in mind. We have two major tournaments this year, CWG and Asian Games,” she had said.
“Yes, we will be working with Dr. Horschig. We go to him three days a week and if he is needed we call him for training,” said Sharma.
Besides Chanu, five other hitchhikers – Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Achinta Sheuli, Sanket Sagar, Bindyarani Devi and Jhili Dalabehera – are scheduled to travel to the US for training but are awaiting their visas.
“Everything is ready, we are just waiting for their visas. SAI has sanctioned everything. We have also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Secretary for Sports to help with the visas for the hitchhikers,” Sharma said.
The former world champion, last seen in action at the Singapore Weightlifting International last month, has qualified for the Commonwealth Games, held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8, in the 49kg category, where she won Olympic silver. . , as well as the 55 kg weight class.
Chanu is a two-time medalist at the CWG, winning silver in the Glasgow edition in 2014 before taking gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Games four years later.
She is expected to compete in the 55kg weight class to maximize India’s chances of winning more gold medals in the multi-sport event.
But with the Asian Games only starting a month after the CWG, Chanu isn’t sure yet whether she will switch back to the 49kg class or continue in 55kg in the continental flagship.
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