Star lifter Mirabai Chanu’s hopes of a good show at the Asian Championships were dented by a crooked hip as she could manage only two good lifts on Friday and finished a disappointing sixth.
The Tokyo Olympic silver medallist, competing in the 49kg category, managed a lift of 85kg in the snatch and 109kg in the clean and jerk, making a massive effort of 194kg overall.
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He has a personal best of 88 kg in snatch and 119 kg in clean and jerk.
Chanu could only manage one good lift in the snatch and was eliminated from the competition after her first clean and jerk attempt.
Meera was feeling some burning sensation in her left hip joint. Had we continued with the lift, we could have got hurt, so we decided not to take the risk.
“Whatever, the aim was just to participate here. We just wanted to log one legal lift in the clean and jerk to put up a total.” Since the World Championships last December, where Chanu won silver with a 200kg all-around effort, Sharma says the focus is only on the Olympics. While participating in the qualifiers, the plan is to top the events leading up to the Asian Games and the Olympics next year.
Only one Asian Games medal is missing from the Manipuri trophy cabinet.
Japan’s Rira Suzuki, competing in the ‘B’ group, finished the same as Chanu with a total of 194 kg (83 kg + 111 kg). But since she completed her lift before Chanu, she finished ahead of the Indian.
Chanu started the snatch with a lift of 85 kg, which she executed well.
She then set a weight of 88 kg as she attempted to match her personal best. The Manipuri, however, failed to heat the barbell in her next two attempts and had to settle for a total of 85kg in snatch.
Four lifters had better snatch results than Chanu, all lifting 90 kg or more.
While Chanu herself has been trying to break the 90kg mark in the snatch from 2020, Sharma had told PTI ahead of the tournament that the former world champion was unlikely to attempt the coveted lift here.
The last time Chanu participated in the Asian Championships in 2021, she returned home with a bronze medal and a world record in clean and jerk (119kg).
However this time, he attempted only 109 kg in the clean and jerk before deciding not to go for it on his last two attempts.
Jiang Huahua of China won the gold medal with a total lift of 207 kg (94 kg+113 kg). She attempted to break Chanu’s world record of 119 kg by lifting 120 kg in her final clean and jerk attempt, but failed.
Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hou Zhihui of China finished second with 204kg (93kg + 111kg), while Thailand’s Serodchana Khambao won the bronze at 200kg (90kg + 110kg).
The ongoing championships are one of the qualifying events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, where weightlifting events will be reduced from 14 to 10 at the Tokyo Games.
However, this is an additional event and not mandatory.
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Under the 2024 Olympic qualification rule, a weightlifter has to compulsorily compete at the 2023 World Championships and 2024 World Cup.
Apart from the above two, a lifter also has to compete in three of the following events – 2022 World Championships, 2023 Continental Championships, 2023 Grand Prix I, 2023 Grand Prix II and 2024 Continental Championships.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will publish the Olympic Qualification Rating (OQR) of each weight class at the end of the qualification period.
The best three performances of a lifter in the qualifying events will be taken into account for the final evaluation.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)