Bogota: Indian weightlifters, led by Mirabai Chanuwill try to find their rhythm as they begin their preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics with the first qualifying event – the World Championships, which kicks off here on Monday.
Olympic silver medalist Chanu, Commonwealth Games medalists S Bindiyarani Devi (59kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg) will all compete for the first time since the Birmingham Games in August to earn the required ranking points to to qualify for the Paris Games.
While Chanu, a former world champion, is not expected to test her limits in this event, head coach Vijay Sharma wants the other lifters to take the opportunity and outdo themselves in at least one category.
“My expectation for this tournament is that except for Mira, everyone should try to achieve a personal best in one of the three categories. That will show improvement and will help them qualify
“For Mira, we will try to get 200+ in total in every qualifying event so that we qualify for the Olympics,” Sharma told PTI.
Chanu holds a personal best of 207 kg (88 kg + 119 kg). She has been trying to break the 200 lb mark in the snatch category since 2020.
However, with the Olympics still a long way off and the Asian Games scheduled for September, the Manipuri, who is struggling with a back problem affecting her snatch, might not risk lifting 90kg in the big event.
“Regularly overloading is not wise. A total weight of 200kg+ will comfortably lead to qualifying so we won’t be putting much pressure in this event,” added a confident Sharma.
Currently, Chanu is the top ranked lifter in the 49 kg category. However, all 11 lifters in the category entered with a starting weight of 200 or more, the highest weight (205 kg) of the two Chinese lifters – Tokyo Olympic champion Hou Zhihui and Jiang Huihua.
Meanwhile, Bindiyarani, who won silver on the CWG in the 55 kg event, will move up to 59 kg. And while she has the power, the team is working to improve her technique for better results.
“Her technique is not that great, we have to work on that first. She has the power, but the technique is bad,” Sharma said.
Bindiyarani has been placed in the D category based on her take-off weight.
CWG champion Sheuli (77 kg), bronze medalist Gurdeep (+109 kg) and Rishiskanata are classified in Category C in their respective events and have no realistic chance of winning a medal.
The strongest weightlifters in the world gather in Bogota for the prestigious event.
The 2022 World Championships will be 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.
Selection:
Mirabai Chanu (49kg), S Bindiyrani Devi (59kg), Chanambam Rishikanta Singh (61kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg).
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