Not her best show but Mirabai clinches gold

TOKYO Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu returned to competitive weightlifting after more than a year and as was expected, she clinched the gold medal in the 48kg at the Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad on Monday.

- FIROZ MIRZA @Chennai

En route to her gold, she also set new Commonwealth Championships records in snatch (84kg), clean and jerk (109kg) and total (193kg).

The six lift attempts and her overall return to the lifting platform since the 2024 Paris Olympics, however, were far from a smooth ride. She faltered in her opening snatch attempt of 84kg. She cleared it in the next attempt but could not lift 89kg in her third and last snatch attempt.

With the snatch section not her forte, the 31-year-old 2017 world champion was expected to improve her performance in the clean and jerk. She opened up with a 105kg lift and bettered it to 109kg in the next attempt. She tried for 113kg in her final attempt but couldn't heave it.

Despite the struggles where she succeeded in only three attempts out of total six, she was way ahead of her competitors.

Her closest rival, Irene Henry of Malaysia, who lifted 161kg (73kg+88kg), won the silver medal while Wales' Nikole Roberts with an overall lift of 150kg (70kg+80kg) took home the bronze.