Mirabai Chanu Highlights, Weightlifting women’s 49kg at Paris 2024 Olympics: Mirabai Chanu finishes fourth, misses out on medal; Zhihui gets gold, Cambei silver and Khambao third

If you are an Indian sports fan, it hasn’t been a great day. First, Vinesh Phogat losing out on at least a silver medal after missing the weight cut, then Antim Panghal’s first-round exit and Tokyo’s silver medallist Mirabai Chanu finishing 4th, followed by Avinash Sable finishing 11th in men’s 3000m SC. 

Fingers crossed for August 8 when the Indian hockey team goes up against Spain in the bronze medal match. AND OF COURSE! THE SENSATIONAL NEERAJ CHOPRA WILL HOPE TO BETTER HIS SB OF 89.34M AND BRING HOME YET ANOTHER GOLD.

Zhihui has done it again in Paris. A COMBINED MONSTROUS ATTEMPT OF 206KG! A 117kg in clean & jerk it is. UNREAL STUFF. Rira tries to get an 117 in but fails miserably.

Khambao gets a no lift at 114kg. She occupies the second place, which means Zhihui will go for 117kg, which would be a new Olympic Record. Zhihui flounders but she will have another go.

114kg for Chanu? She powers through the clean aaand... NOT TO BE. Chanu misses the medal. YET ANOTHER 4TH PLACE FINISH FOR INDIA! She has a combined lift of 199kg.

The South Paris Arena erupts and that will be a guaranteed medal for Cambei. She has tears of joy in her eyes. SHE HAS DONE IT!

Khambao’s lift is greeted with a red light and it will be under investigation by the jury. It has been adjudged as clean. 112kg registered!

Too quick off the floor and this will be an unsuccessful effort by Rira at equalling her PB of 112kg.

111kg. And she gets three white lights. She will manage 195kg, 5 marks below her PB. “Good fight!” her coach congratulates her as Hall of Fame rings across the hall. She will go fifth.

Chanu enters. Can she open with 111kg on the bar? Her best-ever attempt is a 119kg in C&J at the 2021 Asian Championships. A bit wide in her stance during the jerk and the bar comes crashing down. The pressure’s on her. She will redo the 111 and that will see her move third.

Piron Candelario fails to nail the 110kg. She will have to stay satisfied with a combined lift of 192kg.

Cambei is 7kg short of the Olympic Record. A PB in C&J already with one attempt to come. 110kg!

110kg? Nope. Delacruz drops it. She will stay 7th.

Three white lights for Khambao. She has equalled her C&J PB of 110kg off her first attempt.

110kg. Check. 2nd position. Check.

Chanu has gone up again. The opening mark for the Indian is set at 111kg now. Piron Candelario moves up to 110kg now. Echandia Zarate to try a 109 in her last attempt. She leaves it too late, runs up to the stage and starts the lift almost immediately with two seconds left on the clock. Fails miserably. That’s a horrible mess-up from her team. She will have to settle for 105kg and a total of 188kg.

A humble 108kg for Rira to open her scoring WITH ONE SECOND LEFT ON THE CLOCK. Took some effort but all’s well that ends well.

The 24-year-old will go for 107kg after appealing against the 106kg attempt which was adjudged as a ‘No Lift’. One red light, again. Another review. Looks okay. Took a while to get the legs locked but 107 stays.

Echandia Zarate works her way through the Clean with three seconds left on the clock. And fails to push for Jerk. 

Chanu and Delacruz have gone up to 107 and 111, respectively. That means Piron Candelario will go for 107kg. That’s two abover her PB. A powerful jerk and she has done it! That lifts puts her in second position.

Fang gets a red light after what seemed like a clean lift of 106kg and the jury is taking a second look. And turns out, that lift would be ruled out. There was a bend in the arm, they say. Fang has decided to challenge the call.

The potential gold medallist is here amid wild fanfare. 106kg and she does it without breaking a sweat. Remember, this is the weaker of her two lifts. Doesn’t look like it from any angle though. She is in the form of her life!

Powers through the clean, does Echandia Zarate. And the jerk is quite smooth as well. A 105!

Delacruz with a clean lift of 105kg. Tokyo is a thing of the past now. She had missed all her C&J attempts at 108kg in the Japanese capital. This is more of a safe lift to get herself going for now.

Fang steadies herself and that will mean she has had a successful attempt of 102kg.

She takes her own sweet time before going for the jerk but she nails the attempt eventually. 102kg!

She has two minutes for preparation because she is following her own effort. Too much movement again but she will end up assuming control before the green light. Three white lights. 100kg in C&J. Her total is worth 180kg.

Cambei will go up next. She has put 100kg as her entry mark. Oh, no no. She has just revised the mark to 106kg. Gold is clearly on her mind! Which means we will have Rosina take her second attempt now. Didn’t seem to be in total control but she got two white lights. 100kg done! Oh, it’s under review now. And the mark will be taken away and the decision overturned. It’s a red.

Rosina enters the arena. She will try to lift 95kg. A successful attempt will see her jump to the lead. She does it clinically.

She tries hard to muscle her way up but drops the bar. 77kg will remain her best effort, taking her total to 136kg.

Lagatao gets in successful attempts of 74kg and 77kg. Didn’t look easy for the Guam lifter but can she go for 79kg?

Cambei will look to go one better than her PB of 92. And 93 it is! She lets out a shriek and why shouldn’t she? This is Superwoman stuff from the Romanian!

Zhihui fails to get the 93kg. And she will go ahead with 89kg to C&J. She has set it up for Cambei to get 3/3 now.

And 91 it is! A great lift. The Romanian looks to be in great shape. Her PB is 92kg and probably she would like to get the mark in her next attempt.

Of course, she does it! Zhihui registers the 89kg lift in her second attempt. That will see Cambei raise the bar to 91kg.

An effortless 89kg lift from the Romanian. Wonderfully done!

A lack of control will see a ‘No Lift’ for Zhihui at 89kg. This is the first time we get a glimpse of the reigning champion tonight.

Khambao gets an 88. She took all her time but the lift will stand.

Chanu gets the 88 all right! It gets one red light, which means the lift will be under review. Looks okay in the replays. Vijay clenches his fist, a happy man. That’s one kg more than her best attempt in Tokyo.

Another failed attempt as the commentator remarks that a lot of athletes are underperforming today.

Delacruz visibly frustrated as she fails at 88. Very uncharacteristic of her.

Khambao drops it at 88 as well.

Chanu is back. She greets the crowd with her customary bow. She drops the bar. Coach Vijay Sharma puts a hand on his forehead as Chanu mouths a few inaudible words directed at her coach.

Piron Candelario, a bit wide in her stance, makes a mess of the 88kg lift.

The bar drops. Delacruz fails to register an 87kg lift. She applies an electronic massager on her thighs in the back room. Will she go for a higher weight to stay in the medal hunt?

Sterckx has been eliminated from the contest after three unsuccessful attempts. The emotions take over as she waves to the crowd.

Echandia Zarate, who is wearing a necklace with the Paris 2024 logo, will have to stay content with 83 in snatch.

Fang’s last attempt. 86kg it is. It is a powerful lift. She held it low for quite some time before powering her way up.

Sterckx to go again. Meanwhile, Jourdan and Chanu have revised their second attempts to 87kg and 88kg, respectively. Not to be for Sterckx. She will have to register a third lift to stay in the competition.

Echandia Zarate to try and lift 86kg now. Just too far forward and the bar falls behind. She thumps the groud in frustration.

Sterckx to attempt a lift of 86kg. She gets it too quick off the floor and falters.

86 on the bar for Khambao on her Olympic debut. She was the South East Asian Games gold medallist two years ago. The green light comes on.

Not to be for Rira at 85. She will have one more attempt in snatch. She will stay alive in competition with 83kg. She will try to squeeze in her last attempt now itself after a minute’s breather. Not to be. She will have to be content with 83kg in snatch.

Shouts of “India! India!” and we all know who is set to grace the floor next. 85 to start. It’s a clean lift and she will move into joint lead in snatch with Piron Candelario.

An impressive opener from Piron Candelario at 85. She is still a kg shy of her best mark.

Delacruz, who was in bronze medal position after snatch in Tokyo, will be in action next. She is a medal contender here as well. 84 and done! She jumps into the lead.

Rosina fails to lift 83. 80 will stay on as her best mark today.

Fang goes up three kilos in her second attempt. 83 on the board. A kg shy of her personal best with one attempt remaining in snatch.

A lot of support for Echandia Zarate, who opens with 83kg. She is absolutely elated as she celebrates the successful attempt with her coach.

Rira runs the clock down and with three seconds remaining, she lifts 83kg.

80. DONE. AND. DUSTED. She is very happy with the effort. An 83 next.

A no-nonsense 80kg lift from Fang. She signals a small salute in celebration.

Rosina lets out a loud roar before nailing the 75kg attempt. Her PB in snatch is 77kg. She will be going for 80kg next.

Lagatao will go for a 62! That’s three over what she has lifted before. And the 32-year-old drops the bar and walks out amid a round of applause.

Lagatao wears a confident smile as the athlete from Guam successfully lifts 59kg.

Lagatao, who has the lowest entry weight, starts off. Her first snatch attempt of 56kg is successful. Her personal best is 59kg.

The Coups debâtons ceremony is out of the way. The snatch round is set to commence shortly.

Zhihui, favourite to retain her title, doing some stretches ahead of the contest. Rosina, World Championships silver medallist and the flagbearer of Madagascar this year, practising some lifts. Cambei, 29kgs clear of the field at the European Championships, limbers up with some plate weights. Delacruz, another prime contender, is the only one chilling on the bench. Finally, Chanu, whose birthday is in a few minutes from now, doing some jumps on the mat.

Nina Sterckx (Belgium): 193kg

Beatriz Piron Candelario (Dominican Republic): 190kg

Nicola Velasco Lagatao (Guam): 132kg

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (India): 200kg

Rira Suzuki (Japan): 190kg

Rosina Randafiarison (Madagascar): 170kg

Hou Zhihui (China): 210kg

Mihaela Valentina Cambei (Romania): 205kg

Surodchana Khambao (Thailand): 200kg

Fang Wan-Ling (Chinese Taipei): 192kg

Jourdan Delacruz (USA): 200kg

Katherin Echandia Zarate (Venezuela): 197kg

Mirabai Chanu, who won a silver medal for India on the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics, will be competing in her third consecutive Games. Despite recent injuries, she has recovered well from a hip injury she sustained during the Asian Games last year. She is determined to replicate her performance in the women’s 49kg weight class in Paris.

In April, Mirabai totalled 184kg upon her return to competition at the IWF World Cup after a five-month injury layoff. To secure a medal in the Olympics, she will need to lift more than 200kg. Although China’s Hou Zhihui is a strong favourite for the gold, the competition for the remaining two medals is expected to be tough among four athletes: Mirabai, Thailand’s Surodchana Khambao, the USA’s Jourdan Elizabeth Delacruz, and Romania’s Mihaela Valentina Cambei, who are all capable of lifting around 200kg.

Mirabai’s primary concern is to avoid further injuries to have a chance at winning her second Olympic medal on August 7.

Hello, we will be bringing you all the action from the South Paris Arena where Mirabai Chanu, Tokyo 2020 silver medallist, will be vying for a second consecutive Olympic medal.