Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and reigning CWG champion, Mirabai Chanu, became the only weightlifter from India to qualify for the Paris Games 2024 after finishing third in Group B of the women’s 49kg division at the IWF World Cup in Phuket. She had a total lift of 184kg (81kg in snatch + 103kg in clean & jerk).
The World Cup was a mandatory qualifying event for the Olympics and Mirabai was making a comeback to the competition arena after a six-month injury-forced break. The Manipuri weightlifter had last competed at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Sep-Oct last year where she crashed out in fourth position following a bad fall in her third and final clean & jerk attempt, resulting in a thigh injury. Since then, Mirabai had been rehabilitating at NIS Patiala under chief national coach Vijay Sharma.
In Phuket, Mirabai managed to register five clean lifts but was far from her best and finished 11th overall. She had lifted 202kg (87kg in snatch+115kg in clean and jerk) to clinch silver in Tokyo, while her personal best in snatch is 88kg and 119kg in clean and jerk.