Mirabai Chanu to Lead Indian Weightlifting Team at Asian Championships 2023

Indian weightlifter and Tokyo 2020 medalist, Mirabai Chanu, will lead a six-person Indian team at the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2023 in Jinju, South Korea. The competition will take place from May 3 to 13 and will serve as the second qualifying event for the Indian weightlifters aiming for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. The weightlifters’ combined results in snatch and clean and jerk will determine their Olympic Qualification Ranking (OQR).

After the qualification process concludes on April 28, 2024, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) will release the list of qualified athletes. Mirabai Chanu recently attended a five-month rehabilitation program at NIS Patiala to treat her shoulder and back ailments and will continue to compete in the 49 kg division.

Other Indian athletes competing in the Asian championships include Jeremy Lalrinnunga (men’s 67 kg), Achinta Sheuli (men’s 73 kg), Bindyarani Devi (women’s 55kg), Shubham Todkar (men’s 61kg), and Narayana Ajith (men’s 73kg). Lalrinnunga and Sheuli have both faced injuries but are ready to compete again.

For Mirabai Chanu, who has won gold at the Commonwealth Games, a world championship, and an Olympic silver medal, the Asian Weightlifting Championships 2023 presents an opportunity to improve her continental record, which currently stands at a bronze medal in the 2020 Asian Championships in Tashkent.

Re-reported from the story originally published in Latestly