With Mirabai Chanu winning a gold medal in 49kg women's weightlifting, India truck its first Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Birmingham 2022 on Saturday. The poster girl of the sport, lifted a total of 201 kg-88kg in Snatch and 113kg in Clean and Jerk round to create a new Commonwealth Games record, as well as her personal best so far.
In context of her performance, a banner from the stands read out loud and clear, "Mira tum ho India ka hira (You are the nation's diamond)." She truly proved to be India's lucky charm, as the other two golds came by sooner.
But who is Mirabai Chanu?
She first shot to mainstream limelight in the sporting world, when Chanu won her silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Women's 49kg category. The 27-year-old, and petite-sized Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was born in Nongpok Kakching village in district Manipur. The youngest of five siblings, Chanu who hails from a family of agriculturists, is quite active on Instagram.
Although her posts are usually restricted to her sporting life and behind-the-scenes while on tour. After climbing the podium in Tokyo, Chanu said in several media interviews that there are no short-cuts to success and she had to struggle immensely to reach where she did.
After a debacle at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, things weren't easy. From a failed attempt to injury issues to even needing help from a psychologist at NIS Patiala, Chanu did all that it takes to resurface. And how. With a silver at Tokyo and a gold at Birmingham.
Achinta Sheuli
On Sunday, when Achinta Sheuli clinched the gold medal in the men's 73kg final, it was India's third gold and sixth medal at Birmingham. The 20-year-old successfully lifted 143kg in Snatch and 170kg in Clean and Jerk categories, thereby finally registering a record-breaking 313 kg. The weight-lifter who hails from Howrah, West Bengal first showed a spark and promise when he claimed his first senior-level major medal at the Commonwealth Championships in 2018.
His back story is nothing short of a lesson in motivation and patience. Sheuli's late father worked as a labourer and it is the death of his father that forced Sheuli to take up the job of stitching and embroidering in his home town. As fate would have it, his brother inspired him to take up weightlifting, post which he started competing in weightlifting competitions. The rest is record breaking history.
Jeremy Lalrinnunga
The nation's new golden boy, 19-year-old Jeremy Lalrinnunga claimed a gold with a Games record in the men's 67kg category. With the country celebrating his new-found success, neither the mainstream star status, nor his brush with a good performance are anything new for him. The weight-lifter from Aizawl won a gold medal at the youth Olympic Games in 2018 in Buenos Aires.
The media attention and adulation has been overnight, but not his journey to CWG. Reportedly, he even changed his phone wallpaper to a CWG gold.
The performance itself at his maiden Commonwealth Games, has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride straight out of celluloid. A failed attempt, a crippling elbow pain but before blacking out due to pain, his coach tells him, that they won the gold.
Lalrinnunga lifted 140kg, a Games record in the second Snatch round. He attempted 143 kg in the third attempt but failed to lift. In the Clean and Jerk round, he successfully lifted 154kg and then 160kg, taking his tally to 300. Sports runs in his blood, as his father was a state-level boxer too.
"Paris Olympics is the next target," he has declared already. Most likely his new phone wallpaper is the gold that he actually clinched for the nation, before becoming to Paris Olympics again, we guess.
