Mirabai Chanu wins silver, ends long wait for Asian Games medal

Nagoya: From left, South Korea’s Shin Jaegyeong, India’s Mirabai Chanu and Thailand’s Kaeosingkhon Suthasini arrive to compete in the Women’s 49kg Group A weightlifting final match during the 20th Asian Games, in Nagoya, Japan, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)

There was one medal missing from Mirabai Chanu’s collection. And for years, it sat there like an unfinished sentence.

She had won Olympic silver, become a world champion and collected Commonwealth golds. She had lifted her way through triumphs, failures and injuries to become one of the most dependable faces of Indian sport.

But there was no Asian Games medal. Now there is.

Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg category in Nagoya on Wednesday, completing a full set of the major medals. She also became India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medallist since Karnam Malleswari won silver in Bangkok in 1998.

Perhaps no medal could have been more fitting to define the athlete she is. Because if there is one quality that has defined her career, which hasn’t been perfect, is persistence.

Rio was supposed to be her Olympic moment. Instead, she failed to register a valid lift. Five years later, in Tokyo, she made amends and won the silver medal.

Hangzhou was supposed to finally give her the Asian Games medal that had eluded her. Instead, she finished fourth — the podium place slipping away in another heartbreak. Three years later, she returned to Japan, in Nagoya this time, to win the silver medal.

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Every time her story seemed to be ending, Chanu found a way of writing a new chapter.

On Wednesday, the 32-year-old Chanu — the oldest in field of seven weightlifters — lifted a total of 198 kg (87 in snatch and 111 in clean and jerk) to finish behind North Korea’s Ri Song-gum, who completed her Asian Games golden hat-trick. Indonesia’s Wijayana Luluk Diani Tri won the bronze after lifting a total of 191 kg (87 snatch, 103 clean and jerk).

More to follow…

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Over the course of a 18-year-long career, Mihir Vasavda has covered 2010 FIFA World Cup; the London 2012, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games; Asian Games in 2014 and 2022; Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2018; Hockey World Cups in 2018 and 2023 and the 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup. ... Read More