Raipur: India’s weightlifting ace Mirabai Chanu has revealed her strategic approach to managing weight categories for major international events, stating that she will maintain her weight within the 48kg category for the Commonwealth Games, but will need to move up to the 49kg category shortly after, as the Asian Games follow within two months.
For more than a decade, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has been the face of Indian weightlifting. During this period, she has bagged an impressive medal haul that includes a Tokyo Olympics silver, three World Championship medals and three Commonwealth Games podium finishes. Yet one achievement continues to elude the Manipuri lifter, a medal at the Asian Games.
Mirabai first competed in the continental showpiece at the age of 19, finishing ninth at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. She was later forced to withdraw from the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta due to a back injury that disrupted her preparations.
The closest she came to a medal was at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where a hip injury dashed her hopes after coming agonisingly close to sealing a podium finish. The setback had also side-lined her for nearly five months.
The 31-year-old made an impressive recovery to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where she narrowly missed out on a second consecutive Olympic medal. Since then, she has been focused on finally ending her Asian Games medal drought.
“The Asian Games is very important personally because I still have unfinished business there. The competition level is very high, which makes it even more challenging and exciting,” Mirabai said at a press conference following the opening ceremony of the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games 2026 in Raipur.
One of the key challenges for Mirabai has been adjusting her weight category. She has largely competed in the 49kg division but must now shift between categories following a revision in weight classes by the International Weightlifting Federation.
As a result, she will compete in the 48kg category at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, scheduled from July 23 to August 2 in Glasgow, before moving back to 49kg for another attempt at an Asian Games medal at the upcoming edition in Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
“I will keep my weight within 48kg till the Commonwealth Games, but within two months of it, there are Asian Games, which is in 49 kg, so I will have to switch back,” noted Mirabai. IANS
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