Mirabai Chanu has been a frontrunner within the girls’s 49kg class for years however with an rising variety of weightlifters breaching the elusive 90kg mark, the stress is mounting on the Tokyo Olympics medallist to nail the coveted raise. As many as seven athletes, together with 5 on this present Olympic cycle, have lifted 90kg or extra within the snatch part. Chanu herself has been working to cross the mark since 2019. However, the much-anticipated 90kg snatch raise has eluded her in her two makes an attempt previously 4 years.
The Manipuri athlete had first tried it on the National Championships in February 2020 after which once more eventually yr’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Chanu’s private finest within the part stays an underwhelming 88kg and the gulf between along with her rivals is rising each event.
The Chinese duo of Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Hou Zhihui and two-time world champion Jiang Huihua has been constantly lifting in extra of 90kg at tournaments.
The return of Thai weightlifters after severing a two-year suspension has made the sphere extra aggressive with each Thanyathon Sukcharoen and Surodchana Khambao lifting 90kg on the Asian Championships in May this yr.
European champion Mihaela Valentina Cambei (92kg) of Romania and North Korea’s Ri Song Gum (91kg) are the opposite athletes to have snatched greater than 90kg.
The Asian Games, beginning in Hangzhou, China on September 23, would be the good alternative for the star Indian lifter to efficiently hoist 90kg or extra.
“We are aiming to cross the 90kg mark (in snatch) at the Asian Games. It’s been a while since we have been trying to get over that line,” India head coach Vijay Sharma instructed PTI.
Chanu is at par along with her opponents within the clear and jerk part, though her world document raise of 119kg within the part was damaged by Huihua, who lifted 120kg on the World Championships this month.
But her snatch performances have been discovered wanting and infrequently introduced down her complete weight.
The former world champion has prioritised the Asian Games this yr as a medal within the continental occasion is the one silverware lacking from her embellished trophy cupboard.
With two athletes every from weightlifting powerhouses like China and Thailand competing on the Asiad, Chanu should elevate her recreation to face on the rostrum in Hangzhou.
Chanu had confessed that the 90kg raise had grow to be considerably of a psychological block final yr, forward of the CWG.
“To reach 96kg, it will take some time and it will be a little difficult for me. But I can reach 93-94kg,” she mentioned.
Additionally, crossing the 90kg mark will even be an enormous confidence booster for the 29-year-old forward of subsequent yr’s Paris Olympics.
But lifting near twice your physique weight is simpler mentioned than performed, particularly for Chanu, who struggles with a shoulder imbalance difficulty that impacts her snatch.
Zhihui holds the snatch world document — 96kg — within the lightest girls’s Olympic class, which is 8kg greater than Chanu’s private finest.
“We have to keep in mind Mira’s body as well. She is aging, and the chances of injuries increase with age. So we have to be careful with the workload,” Sharma mentioned.
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