Mirabai Chanu to lead India’s contingent at World Weightlifting Championships

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu will lead a five-member Indian contingent at the World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Riyadh event will be a qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics and will be held from September 4 to September 17, as per Olympics.com. Mirabai Chanu will be competing in the women’s 49 kg category. The two-time world championships medalist will be aiming for a gold. She won gold in the 2017 meet at Anaheim while had to settle for silver last year in Bogota.

Bindyarani Devi, the 2021 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships gold medal winner, will be taking part in the women’s 55 kg event.

Mirabai Chanu and Bindyarani Devi are currently undergoing training at St Louis’ SQUAT University under Dr Aron Horschig.

The men’s team consists of 2022 Commonwealth Games champion Achinta Sheuli, who will be taking part in the 73 kg category. The current national-level champion Narayana Ajith, Shubham Todkar, (who secured the gold medal in the 61kg category at the ongoing Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships) will also be competing.

One big miss for the Indian team is Youth Olympic Games Champion Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who misses out due to a back injury. This means that the promising young star is not able to qualify for the Paris Games as participation in the Riyadh Weightlifting Championships is mandatory for the Olympics. He is currently undergoing rehabilitation in Pune.

This will be Mirabai Chanu’s second competition this year. The 28-year-old lifter from Manipur had undergone five-month rehab following a hip surgery last year in December. She managed to compete in May’s Asian Championships but could manage only sixth position.

The Championships will be a pre-cursor to Asian Games this year as the same team, except for Shubham Todkar, will represent India’s tricolour at the continental event, scheduled to take place from September 23 to October 8, in Hangzhou, China.

World Weightlifting Championships 2023: India team

Women: Mirabai Chanu (49kg), Bindyarani Devi (55kg)

 Men:      Shubham Todkar (61kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg), Narayana Ajith (73kg)