Lagatar24 Desk
Bogota, Dec 7: Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won silver at the 2022 World Weightlifting Championships after beating the Tokyo 2020 champion Hou Zhihua of China in Colombia despite her wrist injury.
Mirabai Chanu lifts a total of 200 kg (87kg in snatch and 113kg in clean and jerk) compared to Zhihua’s total of 198 kg (89kg in snatch and 109 kg in clean and jerk). Meanwhile, China’s Jiang Huihua took home the gold medal with a combined weight of 206 kg (93kg plus 113kg).
Indian weightlifter, who recently won the Commonwealth Games 2022 gold, started slowly with an 85kg lift in snatch and even failed in her second attempt at 87 kg before clearing her third attempt. Mirabai then struggled in her second clean and jerk attempt but she recovered in time to finish with a combined total of 113 kg and matched with Jiang in clean and jerk.
“We were not taking any pressure for this event. This is the weight Mira lifts regularly. From now we will start increasing the weights and improving”, head coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.
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It was Mirabai’s second medal at the World Championships, having previously won gold in 2017. Earlier this year she had clinched Commonwealth Games gold. Chanu has a personal best of 207kg (88kg+119kg). She has been trying to breach the 90kg mark in the snatch category since 2020.
The 2022 World Championships are the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be cut from 14 at Tokyo Games to 10.
