The second day of Tokyo Olympics brought good news for India. Weightlifter Meerabai Chanu won silver medal for India in weightlifting.
Mirabai, once used to carry wood from the mountains, then who knew that one day, she would not only represent India in the Olympics, but would also bring a medal to the country’s name.
Mirabai Chanu won silver medal in the weightlifting competition of 49 kg category. With this win, she has become the first Indian to win a medal for India at the Tokyo Olympics.
With this victory of Mirabai Chanu, India’s wait of 21 years has also come to an end. He lifted 115 kg in clean and jerk and 87 kg in snatch. Thus lifting a total of 202 kg, Chanu won the silver medal. Watch the video of that glorious moment –
journey was not easy
Growing up in a small village in Manipur, Mirabai was born on 8 August 1994. At that time, female weightlifter Kunjurani Devi was the star. Chanu got inspiration from him and decided to become a weightlifter. But due to lack of facilities and responsibility of 6 children on the parents, they also had to face many difficulties.
Mirabai was not ready to give up under any circumstances. Initially, when she did not have an iron bar to practice with, she started practicing with bamboo. There was no training center in his village, so he had to travel 60 km away for training.
After all, difficulties have to be put to their knees before hard work. How long would the absence of stubbornness last? With her hard work, she became the Under-15 champion at the age of 11 and the junior champion at 17. Once considered as his Dronacharya, he started practicing, lifting 192 kg in the year 2016, breaking the national record of the same Kunjurani.
When it was time to leave the game, the situation had come
Due to financial condition and lack of resources, Mirabai faced such situations during Rio Olympics, when she had to even think that if this time selection was not done, she would quit the sport. But this did not happen, he was selected for the Olympics.
However, that year was very disappointing for her and she could not do anything special in the Rio Olympics. After this, he improved his game a lot and won gold medals in the 2017 World Championship and 2018 Commonwealth Games.
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