Mirabai Chanu ends 28-year wait, wins maiden Asian Games silver

Aichi-Nagoya, Sep 23 (UNI) Mirabai Chanu finally filled the only major gap in her decorated medal cabinet on Wednesday, winning silver in the women's 49kg weightlifting event at the Asian Games here and ending India's 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the continental Games.

The Olympic silver medallist lifted a combined 198kg, with 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk, to secure her maiden Asian Games medal. North Korea's Ri Song-gum won gold with a total of 215kg. Chanu began the snatch section with 83kg, followed it with 85kg and successfully completed 87kg on her third attempt. She entered the clean and jerk in third place but produced 111kg to move into the silver-medal position.

The medal was particularly significant for the 32-year-old Manipuri, who had endured a succession of disappointments at the Asian Games. She finished ninth on her debut at Incheon in 2014, missed the Jakarta edition in 2018 because of a back injury and came agonisingly close at Hangzhou in 2023, where she finished fourth. Her Hangzhou campaign ended in heartbreak after she failed with a 117kg clean-and-jerk attempt and eventually missed the podium.

Chanu arrived in Aichi-Nagoya with an Olympic silver medal, a world title and three Commonwealth Games gold medals already to her name. She had also won gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games with a 190kg total, making the Asian Games podium the conspicuous missing achievement in her career. Her silver also ended India's long wait for an Asian Games weightlifting medal. India had last won a medal in the discipline at Bangkok in 1998, when Karnam Malleswari claimed silver.

For Chanu, the Aichi-Nagoya silver was therefore both a personal breakthrough and a landmark return for Indian weightlifting to the Asian Games podium after nearly three decades.

UNI BDN