Undeterred by stapled visa heartbreak, Arunachal lifter Pesi Charu eyes LA28 qualifiers

File image of Indian weightlifter Pesi Charu. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Pesi Charu, a National Games champion and a National championships medal winning weightlifter, has taken the disappointment of missing out on making his World championships debut in his stride and hopes to make an impact in the first IWF Qualifier for Los Angeles 2028 in December.

Along with other Indian weightlifters, the 24-year-old had applied for the Chinese visa to compete in the World championships in Ningbo. However, unlike other Indian lifters, he received a stapled visa for hailing from Arunachal Pradesh and saw his dream crashing down.

“On October 16, I got to know that I had been issued a stapled visa. I was the only one who received such a visa as I come from Arunachal Pradesh. It was a good opportunity for me and I was looking forward to making my debut in the elite event. That would have uplifted my game,” Charu told Sportstar.

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“Since the World championships was an Olympic qualifying event, participating there would have helped me gather some valuable ranking points. Since the Indian Government does not recognise the stapled visa, I could not go. It has been a long standing issue and several Arunachal athletes from different sports have suffered.”

The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) was helpless. “Since the issue was beyond the Indian Government’s limits, there was no other choice but to leave Charu out,” said a source.

However, Charu has not given up and has been continuing his training at Modinagar’s National camp. “My next target is the first International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Qualifier for LA28, scheduled in Doha from December 7 to 16. That’s another event where I can collect ranking points for Olympic qualification.”

Charu, now a Navyman, had given a hint of his talent when he represented his own state to total 259kg and beat Services’ Muna Nayak (255kg) for the 2022 National Games gold medal in 61kg at Gandhinagar. “I had joined the Navy just a month before the National Games, but the Services’ selection had happened before that. So, I had to represent my state.”

Charu, who switched to 65kg last year and won the gold medal in the Universal Cup in Samoa with an aggregate of 289kg in April and totalled 292kg in the Asian championships in Gandhinagar in May, is looking to improve his performance.

“Right now, I am doing 310kg during training and hope to increase it to 320kg in the future,” said Charu, with a lot of optimism.