Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has set her sights on the World Championships in December following a golden show at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Saturday.
The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist aggregated 201kg (88kg + 113kg) in the 49kg category to stamp her authority in the competition and achieve a Games record in the process.
The silver went to Mauritius’ Marie Hanitra Roilya Ranaivosoa (172kg) and bronze to Canada’s Hannah Kaminski (171 kg). “I was competing with myself here,” said Mirabai Chanu after the medal ceremony in a virtual interaction.
“Everyone knows Commonwealth Games is easy for me but I never take it lightly. There is pressure of having it easy as well. I know what areas to improve on going forward. This gold medal will give me more confidence for the upcoming events,” she added.
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“My target at World Championships is to match my record in clean and jerk (119kg) and this Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medal will give me confidence for the December event. I am preparing for that,” said Mirabai Chanu.
In a remarkable performance, Mirabai Chanu smashed the Commonwealth and CWG record in snatch. She obliterated the Games record in clean and jerk as well as total lift. Going into the competition, she had a personal best of 88kg and 119kg, a world record in clean and jerk, totalling 207kg.
Her nearest rival in the field, Stella Kingsley of Nigeria, came into the contest with a personal best of 168kg (72kg+96kg), summing up the gulf between her and the rest. Asked about her mindset going into the competition, Mirabai Chanu focused on implementing the work done behind the scenes.
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“We had planned beforehand that my focus today (Saturday) will be on snatch. After returning from Tokyo Olympics, we had worked on the technique on snatch only. So Commonwealth Games was the perfect platform to improve my lift in snatch.
“Even sir (Vijay Sharma) also told me before the event that all the work we have done to improve my lift, I need to apply all those in Birmingham only. I still need to do more with my technique to touch 90kg,” she said.
