New Delhi: India’s weightlifting contingent, led by its lone gold medallist Mirabai Chanu, returned from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games to a rousing welcome here on Sunday. Mobbed at the airport and at the hotel where the team will stay for two days, Mirabai dealt with the attention with her trademark grin.
“This medal means a lot to me. Coming from Manipur, I never thought I’ll come this far. I followed in the footsteps of Kunjarani Devi who was an icon when I was growing up, and now when youngsters seek me out, it feels special,” she said.
The Glasgow podium was a third straight CWG gold for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist. Overall, it was her fourth CWG medal, and it completed a circle for it was in the 2014 Glasgow CWG that her international career took off, with a silver.
Then 19, Mirabai has since won medals at every elite competition, including the Asian and World Championships. The only medal missing from her overflowing cabinet is the Asian Games. Mirabai, with coach Vijay Sharma, have already turned their attention to the Games, to be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4.
“It’s the real deal, I’d say,” said Sharma. “The Asian Games competition is as good, if not tougher, as the Olympics or World Championships. That’s why it’s the most sought after medal for us.
{{/usCountry}}“It’s the real deal, I’d say,” said Sharma. “The Asian Games competition is as good, if not tougher, as the Olympics or World Championships. That’s why it’s the most sought after medal for us.
{{/usCountry}}“The preparation will begin as soon as we reach our training base (Modinagar) in a couple of days. We barely have 50 days, which means we can’t relax.”
For Mirabai, the desire to beat the Chinese and North Korean lifters fuels her Asiad ambitions. Since women’s weightlifting was added in Asian Games at Beijing 1990, China has won six and North Korea the last two in the lightest category (48-49kg).
North Korea’s Ri Song-gum was the winner in the last two editions.
“It’s very important for me to beat the Chinese and Koreans because I know I belong to that level,” Mirabai said.
However, a medal is yet to come. She made her Asiad debut in Incheon 2014, finishing ninth. She missed Jakarta 2018 due to a lower-back injury. At Hangzhou 2023, Mirabai was fourth, missing a medal due to a hip injury.
“I haven’t had it easy at the Asian Games, but I take it as a challenge. I hope to deliver this time,” she said. “I also lost out on a second Olympics medal in Paris (2024) by just 1kg. That one still hurts, but at least I have an Olympic medal.”
Mirabai turns 32 this week, which means recovery is tougher and body risks more injury.
“I know I am not 19 anymore,” she said. “There is a huge difference in muscle mass and training protocols. I cannot take the same load as I used to. Your body changes till you are 25-26. That’s the time when your muscle strength increases. By the time you get to 29-30, the lean muscle begins to come down, the strength is not the same. Recovery takes longer and you have to manage your competitions well.”
Another challenge for Mirabai is weight management. With a maintenance weight of 50.5kg, she will have to cut down at least 1.5kg to make the weight for the 49kg event. Things were tough in Glasgow where she took part in 48 kg.
“It was brutal. It’s not easy to cut weight beyond a point,” she said. For two days leading up to her event, Mirabai survived on one meal a day. “I had just one meal for two days. I would have cornflakes and eggs at breakfast and forget about eating the rest of the day. A day before my event, I even cut down my water intake. You can understand how tough is it to train without food and water,” she said.
Sharma agreed. “It was terrible for her. She’ll have to do it all over again for Asiad.”
Two days before her CWG event, Mirabai weighed 50.100kg. She dropped 600gm the next day to reach 49.500kgs, still 1.5kg heavier. Cutting down on food and water, Mirabai stepped on the scale two hours before her lift to weigh 47.500kg.
Sharma said: “You barely get time to eat after weigh-in. Take out 30 minutes for warm-up, and you have just about an hour to refuel. She usually has some banana or a small, boiled potato to get energy. You can’t stuff yourself before lifting. It’s an excruciating exercise,” Sharma said.
Mirabai will stay hungry for now – for that missing Asian Games medal.