What could be a better start for India in the Olympics? Corona won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on the first day of the Olympics, which started a year late due to the effects of the global epidemic – also in weightlifting by 26-year-old Saikhom Mirabai Chanu from Manipur.
The subject of Olympic performance has been the subject of ridicule by the people as the country ranks second in the world in terms of winning Olympic medals.
This is only the 17th individual medal for India in the 121-year Olympic sporting journey and the second overall medal in women’s weightlifting.
It is also worth noting that this is India’s sixth overall silver medal in the Olympics after Norman Pitchard, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Sushil Kumar, Vijay Kumar, and PV Sindhu in the individual event. Hard work and perseverance are very important for this medal.
The first medal for India in women’s weightlifting was won by Karnam Malleshwari at the 2000 Sydney Olympics 21 years ago. It was then that the weightlifting competition at the Olympics was opened for women for the first time.
Karnam had then honored India by winning a bronze medal in the 69 kg category, now Chanu has made the country proud by winning a silver medal in the 49 kg category.
Born into a simple family in Manipur, Chanu is a player with extraordinary tenacity. She dreamed of becoming an archer, but when she read about Kunjurani, a female weightlifter in her sixth-grade book, she decided that she wanted to win a medal for the country by gaining some proficiency in the same sport.
On the playground ही even in weightlifting, the journey to show charisma was not easy लागले it took a lot of hard work. Chanu, 12, had to travel about 40 kilometers in a truck to practice.
The family situation was normal, but Chanu’s motives and the family’s faith in her were certainly fantastic. When you believe in yourself and your purpose is unavoidable, no goal remains impossible.
This short stature proved it. In those days, Meera left an eye on former international weightlifter, coach Anita Chanu. After she first lifted her weight she saw that this girl had the strength to show some charisma. The journey from Manipur to Tokyo is a story of Mira’s dedication and hard work.
Although Chanu’s dreams were shattered at the 2016 Rio Olympics, within five years she carved her name and the country’s name on the sports giant.
In 2016, Chanu won a gold medal at the Senior Women’s National Weightlifting Championships and then a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championships the following year.
For this achievement, she was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and later the Padma Shri in 2018.
That same year, Chanu not only won a gold medal for the second time at the Senior Women’s National Weightlifting Championships but also a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games for herself and the country.
This year, in the shadow of the Corona, despite struggling with fitness issues, Chanu competed for the Tokyo Olympics by lifting 119kg in the clean and jerk at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, setting a new world record.
The five-year journey from the National Championship to the Olympics is not only a story of Chanu’s dedication and hard work, but also an inspiring example for the country’s girls, especially for Manipur, where good talents in weightlifting are emerging.
