Nagoya: Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won her first Asian Games medal on Wednesday, taking silver in the women's 49kg event at the Aichi Nagoya Games in Nagoya, Japan.
Chanu lifted a combined 198kg to finish second behind North Korea's Ri Song Gum. Her result also ended India's 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Asian Games.
Chanu lifted 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. She completed all three snatch attempts, lifting 83kg, 85kg, and 87kg. In the clean and jerk, she lifted 107kg before clearing 111kg on her second attempt.
Ri Song Gum won the gold medal with a total of 215kg. She lifted 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk. Indonesia's Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana won the bronze medal with a total of 191kg.
The silver was significant in Chanu's career because an Asian Games medal had remained one of the major honours missing from her record.
Chanu has already won an Olympic silver medal, a World Championships gold medal and multiple Commonwealth Games titles. She also won her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold earlier this year in Glasgow.
Her journey at the Asian Games has not been easy. Chanu made her Asian Games debut at the 2014 Incheon Games and finished ninth. She missed the 2018 Jakarta Games because of injury.
At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, Chanu finished fourth. An injury affected her performance during the clean and jerk, and she was unable to complete her final attempt at 117kg.
The result in Nagoya therefore ended her wait for an Asian Games medal. After missing the podium in her earlier appearances, Chanu finally secured a medal in her third Asian Games appearance.
Her silver also brought India back onto the Asian Games weightlifting podium after a 28 year gap. India's previous weightlifting medal at the Asian Games came at the 1998 Bangkok Games, when Karnam Malleswari won silver in the women's 63kg category.
The latest medal adds another major achievement to Chanu's international career. She won Olympic silver at the Tokyo Games and became a world champion before adding further medals at the Commonwealth and Asian championships.
Ri Song Gum also secured her third consecutive Asian Games title with her 215kg total.
Chanu's 198kg total secured silver and gave India its first Asian Games weightlifting medal since 1998, adding another major achievement to the career of one of the country's most successful weightlifters.