Tokyo Olympics silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who is taking it easy since returning to action following a six-month injury lay-off, is targeting a lift of above 90kg in snatch in next month’s Paris Games. Chanu, who suffered hip tendonitis and finished fourth in the 49kg women’s category in the last Asian Games, returned to competition with a lift of 184 kgs (81kg snatch and 103kg clean and jerk) at the Phuket World Cup in April this year. She knows that anything less than a 200kg total lift (snatch clean and jerk) won’t be enough to win a medal in Paris and she is working towards that with her long-time coach Vijay Kumar Sharma.
“The injury is fine, I have completely recovered from that but I am going slowly in training. In training now I am lifting 80-85 per cent in repetitions, I am not lifting 100 per cent till the Olympics.
“88kg in snatch and 119kg in clean and jerk are my best, but my target is 90kg plus in snatch in Paris, and I will try my best,” Chanu said during a virtual interaction facilitated by Sports Authority of India (SAI).
“Right now, I am going gradually and lifting 70-80kgs in training but my target is 90kg plus and better clean jerk lift but I can’t say a specific target. I will do what it takes and try to give my best performance to win a medal, but I can’t predict the colour of the medal.” Chanu said the injury phase was a great learning experience for her.
“I learnt a lot after the injury. I learnt how to keep myself safe because injuries can happen anytime. We need to follow instructions of coaches, adopt right techniques, rest and exercise properly, and how to build your muscles,” she said.
“I understand my body. Injuries can happen anytime and these are difficult phases but we need to motivate ourselves and keep believing in ourselves.” The star Indian weightlifter said self doubts, which creep up post injury, can make things more difficult for an athlete.
“Problems did happen but I am happy that I made a comeback. It was difficult, there is always self doubt when recovery will happen, how to recover soon and stuffs like these. All these questions came up in mind because I was counting days as the Olympics was near.
“But I didn’t give up and believed in myself, worked according to my coaches and physio and recovered fully,” Chanu said.
She is not shying away from the fact that there will be pressure on her in Paris.
“Pressure is there because in Tokyo, on the first day I got a medal for India. I will try to give my best performance and win a medal for the country in Paris.” Chanu is currently training in NNIS, Patiala and will be leaving for Paris on July 7 for a training stint.
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