Asian Games 2026: Mirabai Chanu lands elusive weightlifting medal with silver
India’s Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the Asian Games 2026 in Japan on Wednesday.
Mirabai Chanu, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist, finished with a total lift of 198kg (87kg snatch + 111 clean and jerk) at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center for her maiden podium finish at the Asian Games.
This was also India’s 15th Asian Games medal in weightlifting but the first podium finish in the sport in 28 years.
Another Olympic medallist, Karnam Malleswari, was the last Indian lifter to stand on an Asian Games podium, having won silver in the women’s 63kg division at Bangkok 1998.
The Indian weightlifter had heartbreakingly missed out on a medal at Hangzhou 2023, finishing fourth after injuring herself during her final clean and jerk attempt.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Ri Song-gum, the reigning world champion and two-time defending Asian Games champ, took the gold medal again with a world record total lift of 215kg (94kg+121kg). Both her snatch and clean and jerk efforts were also new world marks in the weight class.
Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana took the bronze with 191kg (88kg+103kg).
Mirabai Chanu was clinical in her snatch attempts, logging successful progressions of 83kg, 85kg and 87kg without much trouble.
Trailing only Ri Song-gum and Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana heading into the clean and jerk section, Mirabai Chanu began with a successful 107kg lift before improving it to 111kg. She didn’t attempt a third lift.
“There was pressure, but not that much pressure that I could not win a medal,” Mirabai Chanu said after the event. “I had the belief in me that I would be able to win. There were expectations, people who believed in me: my coaches, my support staff, and I made sure to win a medal for my country.”
A medal winner at the Olympics, the World and Asian Championships and the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games was the only major meet where Mirabai had never stood on the podium heading into Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
India have sent a four-member weightlifting contingent to contest for medals at the Asian Games 2026.
Gyaneshwari Yadav competed in the women’s 53kg category later in the day but failed to secure a medal, finishing eighth with a total of 195kg (87kg + 108kg).
Seram Nirupama Devi (women’s 61kg) and Harjinder Kaur (women’s 69kg) are the other two Indian lifters in fray and will compete in the coming days.
