Bogotá Colombia): Indian star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu was not at her best due to a wrist injury but still won a silver medal at the World Championships with a total lift of 200kg, here.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, who competed in the 49 kg category, managed to lift 87 kg in snatch and in clean and jerk her best effort was a 113 kg lift, here on Tuesday night.
The Indian finished behind China’s Jiang Huihua, who won the gold with a total effort of 206 kg (93 kg + 113 kg), while her compatriot and Olympic champion in Tokyo Hou Zhihua 198 kg (89 kg + 109 kg) took the bronze medal. took home.
“We took no pressure for this event. This is the weight that Mira regularly lifts. From now on we will start increasing the weights and improving,” head coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.
Chanu, the 2017 world champion, injured her wrist during a training session in September. She had also participated in the National Games in October with the injury.
“We couldn’t do much (about the injury) because we didn’t want to skip the World Cup. Now we will focus on her wrist as we have a lot of time before the next event,” said Sharma.
Although the field of 11 lifters was very competitive, most lifters refrained from stretching themselves. Zhihua even skipped her final clean and shock attempt to settle for bronze.
Chanu entered her first international tournament since winning gold at the Commonwealth Games and had a disappointing snatch session. She started with a lift of 84 kg, but her second attempt of 87 kg was considered a non-lift.
It was expected that Chanu did not go for the long-awaited 90 kg lift.
On her last attempt, the 28-year-old, who had wrapped her wrist, wobbled a bit but was able to lift the 87kg barbell, which is a kilogram less than her personal best in the section.
Fifth after the snatch section, Chanu set top takeoff weight, but her first attempt of 111 kg was ruled a no-lift because her left elbow wobbled a bit.
The Indian camp challenged the decision, but the judges upheld it.
However, Chanu, the world record holder in the category, managed her last two attempts at 111 kg and 113 kg to collect the overall and clean and jerky silver. He also took silver in the snatch category.
It is Manipuri’s second Worlds medal, she had won gold in 2017.
Medals are awarded separately for snatch, clean and jerk, and total lift at continental and world championships. But only one total lift medal is awarded at the Olympics.
India has four hitchhikers left in contention. S Bindiyrani Devi (59kg), Chanambam Rishikanta Singh (61kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg) will compete in their respective categories.
The 2022 World Championship is the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be reduced from 14 at the Tokyo Games to 10.
However, it is an additional event and not a mandatory event.
The 2024 Olympic qualifying rule requires a lifter to compete in the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup.
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In addition to the above, the lifter must also compete in three of the following events: the 2022 World Championships, the 2023 Continental Championships, the 2023 Grand Prix 1, the 2023 Grand Prix II and the 2024 Continental Championships.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) publishes the Olympic Qualification Rating (OQR) of each Olympic weight category at the end of the qualifying period.
The top three performances by a weightlifter during the qualifying events will be considered for the final judging.
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