Tokyo Olympics 2020: Mirabai Chanu form guide - Strengths, weaknesses, recent results
Tokyo Olympics: Mirabai Chanu form guide - Strengths, weaknesses, recent results
Ace India weightlifter Mirabai Chanu heads into the Tokyo Olympics as a strong medal contender. Featuring in her second Olympics, Chanu is the sole Indian weightlifter to qualify for the Games this year. If anything, this fact only increases the weight of expectations on her shoulders.
But that's what she does best; lift heavys weight to glory. She burst onto the scene during the trials of the Rio Olympics when she broke the 48 kg national record. However, she failed to record a single legal lift at the event in three attempts as she succumbed to the big pressure.
However, the Manipur weightlifter would be eager to put that disappointment behind and try and go all the way this time around. A lot has changed over the course of the past five years, with the 26-year-old stitching together a series of impressive performances to rise through the ranks.
Ahead of the start of the Tokyo Olympics and before Mirabai Chanu, who currently holds the world record in clean and jerk in the women's 49kg category, is seen in action, let's take a look at her strengths, weaknesses, and recent results.
STRENGTHS:
Chanu has managed to convert her weakness into her strength. She failed to put up a show in the clean and jerk category but has consistently shown improvement to stay in contention for medals in top events. Moreover, she changed her category from 48 kg to 49 kg, and that coupled with her overcoming her back problems has aided her in clinching the world record in women's 49 kg clean and jerk category.
WEAKNESSES:
While she has enjoyed success in the clean and jerk category, the snatch category has proved to be her biggest hurdle. To her own admission, she has struggled while lifting weights in the snatch due to her shoulder injury. She suffered a scare during the recent Asian Championships when she failed to lift 85 kgs in her first two snatch attempts before lifting 86 kg in her final try.
RECENT RESULTS:
Ranked second in the women's category, the Indian lifter secured qualification for the event on the basis of her world ranking points. She has 4133,6172 points in her kitty.
At the 2020 Asian Championships, she clinched the bronze medal. Moreover, she lifted 203kgs (88kgs in Snatch and 115kg in Clean & Jerk,) in the 49kg category to win the gold medal at the 2020 Senior National Weightlifting Championships.
The Games open on July 23.