Mirabai Chanu to Spearhead India's World Weightlifting Championship Challenge

By: WE Staff | Saturday, 26 November 2022

At the World Weightlifting Championships 2022, which will take place in Bogota, Colombia, later this month, India will field a five-member team under the direction of Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu because a few medalists from the Commonwealth Games, including Jeremy Lalrinnunga, are still recovering from their injuries.

The national selectors have chosen four lifters for the competition and will add one more name to the list because lifters like Lalrinnunga, who sustained lower back and thigh injuries while winning the gold medal in men's 67kg at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August, have not yet fully recovered and will miss the competition, just like they did for the Asian weightlifting championships last month.

Achinta Sheuli (men's 73 kg), Bindyarani Devi (women's 59 kg), Mirabai Chanu (women's 49 kg), and Gurdeep Singh (men's +109 kg), in addition to being the 2017 World Champion, will make up the Indian team for the competition, which will take place from December 5 to 16 and serve as a qualification event for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

"Jeremy has not yet recovered from the injury he suffered during the Commonwealth Games, He had to move up a weight category to 73kg as his original 67kg is not an Olympic discipline. Now he will do that in the next qualifying event," says chief national weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma.

For Mirabai Chanu, the World Championship will be a significant occasion as well because it will be her first international competition following the Commonwealth Games.

In the World Championship, which is anticipated to be dominated by China in the lighter weight divisions, Mirabai will also be India's best chance.