India at CWG 2022: Mirabai Chanu and weightlifters to push for record medal haul
India at CWG 2022: Mirabai Chanu and weightlifters to push for record medal haul
Inching closer to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, a Mirabai Chanu-led Indian weightlifting team will be pushing for another strong gold medal haul as they will have a shot at surpassing their five gold-medal hauls from the last edition in Gold Coast in 2018.
Out of the 16 lifters, participating in all eight weight categories each, five gold, three silver, and two bronze medals were bagged by the teams. Continuing in his position, weightlifting national coach Vijay Sharma is feeling bullish about his two teams' chances of creating history again.
The team is without three gold medallists from Gold Coast but it has little bearing on the unit which boasts of several star performers at the Commonwealth level.
With a major rule change of allowing just the top weightlifter per nation for each weight category from this Games, India look well set to script history as the 15-member squad also includes most of the faces from last year's Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships. The event held in Tashkent last December saw lifters claim 16 medals (including four gold) to finish second behind Canada in the medals tally.
"We have a very strong squad for the Commonwealth Games," coach Vijay Sharma told Firstpost from Birmingham. "We will be fighting for 11 to 12 medals. The men’s team is, in fact, in better shape than the woman’s team this year. The men’s team has the stronger chances of winning a medal but preparation-wise, both the teams are ready, rest will see on the day."
Mirabai Chanu massive gold medal favourite
Olympic star Mirabai Chanu, who won silver and gold in 2014 and 2018 respectively, is a massive favourite to claim gold in the 49kg category as her Tokyo results of lifting 202 kgs (87kgs in snatch and 115 in clean and jerk) puts her head and shoulders above of the rest of her rivals.
Coach Sharma said for Mirabai, who didn't compete in Tashkent last December, CWG is merely a preparatory event as they work on her weaknesses in the snatch category.
"There’s not much pressure on Mirabai for this competition. She is capable of defeating them all in Birmingham if you compare the performances. We are here to improve on our weaknesses and that has been the snatch segment. If we improve on that here we will be in a better position to compete at World Championship event later in Colombia (November-December)," Sharma said.
"Now we are not really thinking about peaking because it’s a long period for Olympic qualifiers. Last time at Olympics, it was the snatch that kept us away from gold and we want to strengthen that and want to be in the gold medal fight."
Mirabai was on par with China's Olympic champion Hou Zhihui in the clean and jerk segment in Tokyo. The Indian lifted just a kg less than the Chinese (116kgs), who also set the Olympic record in the segment. However, in the snatch, Mirabai fell short by 7kgs to the 25-year-old Chinese, who lifted 94kgs for another Games record. The Chinese also hold the world record of 96kgs.
This will be Mirabai's first major event since the Olympics and the third overall as the 27-year-old lifter competed in Khelo India senior national ranking women’s weightlifting tournament in Himachal in June, where she lifted 191kg (86 + 105 kgs) for the gold before competing in Singapore weightlifting international in 55kg.
Coach admitted that they tried to improve Mirabai's national record of 88kg in the snatch at the event but couldn't succeed and will aim to achieve that next week in Birmingham.
"Earlier we didn’t have time to work on her technique but now we were able to work on our weaknesses. We played a tournament in Kangra and we were trying to break the national record there but we didn’t succeed (88kgs her personal best in the snatch). Post that, we worked more on the snatch and now we will be aiming to improve the national record in Birmingham," he said.
Youth Olympic star Jeremy Lalrinnunga and others in focus
Among other big names, 2018 Youth Olympic gold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga will be aiming for his second major senior medal in the 67 kg category. Lalrinnunga is the favourite for the gold as the 19-year-old boy from Mizoram leads the Commonwealth rankings with his gold-winning effort of 305kg (141 + 164 kgs) in Tashkent and it gives him at least a 10kg edge over the No. 2.
Jeremy's road to the gold medal was made easier by the doping suspension of six Pakistani lifters in April, which included his category rival and earlier gold favourite Talha Talib, who finished a creditable fifth at the Olympics.
Jeremy recovered from his prolonged knee injury from last year and his gold medal at the Commonwealth Championships brought the much-needed confidence back.
"Jeremy is surely a gold medal contender, we are feeling strongly about his chances. CWG will be important for him to get himself back in the game as he had a long battle with his knee and other injuries. But he has recovered well now and his performance has improved as well," coach Vijay said.
Achinta Seuli (73kg), Ajay Singh (81kg) and Lovpreet Singh (109kg) and Gurdeep Singh (109kg-plus) are among the other men's gold medal contenders.
20-year-old Achinta's 316kg (143 + 173 kgs) lift in Tashkent gives him a strong edge over his Malaysian No. 2 rival Muhammad Erry Hidayat in the 73kg category while Ajay Singh's 322 kg (147 + 175 kg) effort puts him in a neck-to-neck battle with Canada's Nicolas Vachon for the top honour. Lovpreet and Gurdeep, on the other hand, will have to massively improve their clean and jerk in the heavyweight category for the gold. Gurdeep may also script history by becoming the first plus category lifter to win medal at CWG.
Gururaja Poojary {265kg (117 + 148)} will also be in an even battle for a silver medal with Papua New Guinea's veteran weightlifter Morea Baru in the 61kg category. However, beating Malaysia's Muhamad Aznil Bidin to the gold will require special effort.
"Apart from Jeremy, Achinta Seuli, Ajay Singh will fight for gold among men. We are hopeful of a medal in the plus category as well and that’s big because we never won a medal in that category as well but Gurdeep Singh is capable of fighting for gold and silver medals this time," said the coach.
As far as the rest of the women's team is concerned, coach Sharma made an attempt to maximise the medal chances for India by adding Jhilli Dalabehara to the 49kg category and moving Mirabai to 55kg for the CWG. However, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) rules of allowing an athlete to compete in his/her best category, coupled with the only top athlete per nation rule, meant Jhilli had to sit out of the squad.
The women's squad still has the likes of Sorokhaibam Bindyarani Devi (55kg), Punam Yadav (76kg), and Purnima Pandey (87-plus kg) among major medal prospects.
Bindyarani, who grabbed silver in Tashkent, has a similar weakness as Mirabai in snatch and that could prove pivotal in her gold conquest against Nigeria's Adijat Adenike Olarinoye. She lifted 198kg (84 +114) last December and will have to gain a whopping six kgs in the snatch to match her Nigerian rival.
"Bindya is weak in her snatch as well but she still is a strong medal contender. Our main contender in the category is the Nigerian girl, who has lifted six kgs more than Bindya (90kgs), which is a huge gap. So we are trying to reduce that as much as possible," said Sharma.
India's chances in the 59 and 71 kg categories are slim and 64kg is the only category that will have no representation from the country. For Punam {220kg (98 + 122)}, it will be a straight fight against England's Emily Muskett for the silver medal as her rival has lifted just two kgs more than her in the clean and jerk category.
Similar to Gurdeep, Purnima {229kg (102 +127)} will have a shot at winning India's first medal in the women's plus category but must see off stiff competition from England's Olympic silver medallist Emily Campbell and Australia's 2018 CWG runner-up Charisma Amoe-Tarrant.
"Purnima Pandey will have to create history because India have never won a medal in the category. She also will face a tough fight from her English rival, who also won a medal at the Olympics but I am hopeful of at least a bronze in the category," Sharma concluded.
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