Mirabai Chanu is an inspiration to many athletes but to Gyaneshwari Yadav she is also a competitor and the promising weightlifter dreams of not just scaling great heights like the Tokyo Olympic medallist but leaving her behind.
Mirabai Chanu's Asian Championship campaign did not go as per plan as she faltered in snatch and chose not to make her last two clean and jerk attempts to finish sixth.
Indian weightlifters Sivalingam Sathish Kumar and Saikhom Mirabai Chanu earned the right to compete at the Rio Olympics in men's and women's weight categories respectively after topping the selection trials. Selection trials were held in Patiala to choose one lifter each from men's and women's category across all weight divisions after India had earned two quota places for the Rio Games at Senior Asian Championships at Tashkent, Uzbekistan in April. Sathish earned the ticket for Rio after finishing on top among male lifters with a total of 336kg in 77kg weight division. He lifted 151kg in snatch and 185kg in clean & jerk.
The 27-year-old has also qualified for the CWG in the 49kg weight category on the basis of her Commonwealth rankings.
An obsession with being 'neat, tidy and stylish' almost led her to archery, says world champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who feels a chance meeting with her eventual coach changed her career plans.
In an unusual move, ace weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has been nominated for the Arjuna award by the national federation though the former World champion is already a recipient of Khel Ratna, country's highest sporting honour. The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) has nominated Chanu along with Ragala Venkat Rahul and Punam Yadav.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu clinched three bronze medals for India on the opening day of the 19th Junior Women Asian Weightlifting Championships in Yangon, Myanmar.
Mirabai made a strong comeback from a lower back injury that had kept her out of action for nearly nine months post the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Apart from Mirabai, the four other Indian lifters were placed in groups C and D, failing to finish even in the top 20 at the Worlds, earlier this month.
Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is focussing on an Asian Games gold medal, the only accolade missing from her showcase.
Olympic silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will miss the World Championship and the Commonwealth Senior Championship slated to take place simultaneously between December 7 to 17 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Former champion Mirabai Chanu bettered her own national record but missed out on a podium, finishing a creditable fourth, in the women's 49kg event at the Weightlifting World Championships.
They weren't up for a windfall even after the trophy but life was certain to get a lot better as some sponsors and state governments stepped up to lift them financially.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu will have an outside chance of a podium finish for India when the weightlifter begins her campaign in the women's 48kg category at the Rio Olympic Games on Saturday.
Online voting for the award will remain open until February 28 and the winner will be revealed on March 28 at a ceremony in the Capital.
World Champion Mirabai Chanu's participation at the Asian Games appears doubtful
Check out how India's athletes fared on Day 12, Tuesday, August 7, 2024:
Mirabai Chanu was the historic success story of Indian weightlifting in a blemish-free 2017 in which the sport managed to stay clear of the dope scandals that have destroyed its credibility in the past.
India's world record holder weightlifter Mirabai Chanu revealed that she was 'completely broken' after the failure at the 2016 Rio Olympics and talking to a psychologist helped her get back on track.
Olympic silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will compete in a new weight class -- 55kg -- at the Commonwealth Games later this year to help maximise India's chances of winning more gold medals in the multi-sport event in Birmingham.
As soon as Nooh Dastagir Butt won Pakistan's first gold medal at the Birmingham Games, one of the first persons to lend a congratulatory hand was none other than Indian superstar Mirabai Chanu.
The World Championship is one of the ten qualifying events for the 2020 Japan Olympics.
Chanu ended India's over two-decade-long wait for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics.
Adding to Manipur's joy, L Nilam Devi secured the bronze medal, ensuring two podium finishes for the state.
Six Indian athletes found themselves agonisingly close to the podium, ultimately falling short.
India's Mehak Sharma won a silver medal in women's +86kg category while Lovepreet Singh settled for a bronze in men's +110kg on the concluding day of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships
World champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu says the injury is not as bad as first thought and she would need just two weeks of training to be competition ready.
Mirabai has been subjected to an astonishing 45 dope tests in the last four years but has come out clean each time.
If only the shooters had found their targets, the story would have been so different! sighs Raj Kishore Mishra.
Jhilli lifted 69kg in the snatch and followed that up by 88kg in clean jerk for a total of 157kg to finish on top of the podium
India's schedule on Day 2 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday.
Virat Kohli sent the shutterbugs into a clicking frenzy as he received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award
Newly-crowned weightlifting world champion Saikhom Mirabai Chanu says she thought of quitting the sport after receiving flak for her failure to win a medal at the Rio Olympics.
From Sachin Tendulkar to P V Sindhu to Virat Kohli to Mirabai Chanu to MC Mary Kom, India's sporting legends wished their fellow-countrymen on this special day.
Mirabai managed to lift 87kg in snatch and in 'clean and jerk' her best effort was a lift of 113kg
Narendra Modi on Friday heaped praises on weightlifters Sanjita Chanu and Deepak Lather after the two made the country proud by clinching gold and bronze, respectively, at the ongoing 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The latest qualifying rankings feature three Chinese weightlifters in the top five.
India's Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the Digilocker facility for athletes, making it mandatory for national federations to digitise certificates and other essential documents of sportspersons within the next year. The initiative, launched in the presence of representatives from 40 National Sports Federations, aims to ensure hassle-free record-keeping and prevent exploitation of athletes. The cloud-based platform, developed by Digital India Corporation (DIC), allows for storage and verification of documents. The ministry has also announced that physical certificates will no longer be considered valid after one year.
Olympic Silver medalist Mirabai Chani's feat is a story of grit, dedication and desire, but it isn't unique. In Manipur, discovers Vaibhav Raghunandan.
The ongoing crisis in Manipur has affected several others in the country in one way or the other. Over the years Manipur has produced brilliant sports person in the country.
