Mirabai Chanu secured the Asian Games silver medal in the women’s 49kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, adding the only major international medal missing from her collection. The 32-year-old Indian lifted a combined 198kg to finish on the podium.
Chanu successfully completed all three snatch attempts, recording 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. She began the clean and jerk with 107kg and then lifted 111kg in her second attempt to set her final total at 198kg.
North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won the gold medal with a total lift of 215kg, while Wijayana took bronze.
The result marked a significant return for Chanu at the continental event. She had been forced to withdraw from her final clean and jerk attempt at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games after suffering an injury and finished fourth. Three years later, she returned to the Asian Games podium.
Chanu’s record already includes Olympic silver from Tokyo 2020, three Commonwealth Games gold medals and one silver, as well as medals at the World Championships, Commonwealth Championships and Asian Championships.
With her Aichi-Nagoya silver, Chanu became only the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleshwari to win medals at the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian Championships and Commonwealth Championships.
Born on August 8, 1994, in Nongpok Kakching, Manipur, Chanu is the youngest of six siblings. Her father, Saikhom Kriti Meitei, worked in the Public Works Department, while her mother, Saikhom Tombi, ran a small shop to support the family.
Her physical strength developed through daily activities in her village, including gathering firewood and carrying water uphill across the hilly terrain. Chanu initially wanted to become an archer, but her ability was noticed at the Khuman Lampak Sports Academy, which led her towards weightlifting.
She began formal training in 2008 and travelled regularly from her village to Imphal. Since her family could not afford daily transport, she often depended on passing truck drivers for rides to training. Years later, she invited some of those drivers to celebrate her Olympic success with her.
Chanu’s early development was supported by Manipur’s sports system before she moved to national-level training in Bengaluru and later to the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. She has trained at the Patiala institute since 2012. Vijay Sharma has remained her principal coach for much of her senior career and has also served as a guide and father figure.
Her international breakthrough came with gold at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships. She went on to win Commonwealth Games gold at Gold Coast in 2018, Birmingham in 2022 and Glasgow in 2026. She also won World Championships silver in 2022 and 2025, along with Asian Championships gold in 2021.
The Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020 established Chanu as one of India’s leading sporting figures. She finished fourth at Paris 2024 but continued competing at the highest level, returning to the World Championships podium in 2025 before completing her Asian Games medal collection.
Outside competition, Chanu serves as Additional Superintendent of Police (Sports) in the Manipur Police and is pursuing a sports psychology programme through Amity University Online.
Along with Sharma, she has helped establish the Weightlifting Warriors Academy in Modinagar, Uttar Pradesh. The academy aims to encourage young girls to take up weightlifting, with around 40 girls reported to be training there in 2026.
Chanu has frequently named fellow Manipuri weightlifter Kunjarani Devi as her sporting idol. Her own journey from a village in Manipur to Olympic and Asian Games podiums has made her an inspiration for a new generation of Indian weightlifters.
The silver medal in Aichi-Nagoya gives India a long-awaited Asian Games weightlifting medal and completes the one major achievement that had remained absent from Chanu’s decorated career.
Follow us
