Birmingham: Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu secured the country’s first gold medal in the CWG 2022 when she finished first in the women’s 49 kg weightlifting event in Birmingham on Saturday.
In the process, Mirabai defended her CWG crown and smashed the Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games’ weightlifting record by lifting 197 kg. Notably, Chanu won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games 2018 at Goldcoast and took a massive 12kg lead over her nearest opponent, courtesy of her second throw in the snatch round.
Chanu was the favourite to win gold in 49kg as she had the best record among all those in the fray. Her 203kg combined lift in Tokyo qualified her for the event and is 35kg better than the next best qualifier Stella Peter Kingsley of Nigeria who lifted 168kg at the world championships last year.
This is India’s third medal of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with Sanket Sargar clinching the silver medal in the men’s 55 kg category and P Gururaja winning a bronze medal in the men’s 61kg category earlier in the day.
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