Nagoya, Sep 23: Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu on Wednesday won her maiden Asian Games medal, securing silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the 2026 Asian Games in Japan.
Chanu lifted a total of 198kg, combining 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk, to finish second behind DPR Korea’s reigning world champion Ri Song-gum.
Ri successfully defended her Asian Games title with a world-record total of 215kg (94kg snatch and 121kg clean and jerk). Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with 191kg.
Chanu was clinical in the snatch, successfully completing lifts of 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. She then opened the clean and jerk with 107kg before improving to 111kg and opted against a third attempt.
The silver ended India’s 28-year wait for an Asian Games weightlifting medal. Karnam Malleswari was the last Indian lifter to finish on the podium, winning silver in the women’s 63kg category at the 1998 Bangkok Games.
It was also Chanu’s first Asian Games podium finish. She had narrowly missed a medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, finishing fourth after suffering an injury during her final clean and jerk attempt.
“There was pressure, but not that much pressure that I could not win a medal,” Chanu said after the event.
“I had the belief in me that I would be able to win. There were expectations, people who believed in me: my coaches, my support staff, and I made sure to win a medal for my country,” she added.
Chanu’s silver is India’s 15th Asian Games medal in weightlifting.
Earlier in the day, India’s Gyaneshwari Yadav finished eighth in the women’s 53kg category with a total lift of 195kg.
India have fielded a four-member weightlifting contingent at the Games. Seram Nirupama Devi in the 61kg category and Harjinder Kaur in the 69kg category are yet to compete.
