Mirabai Chanu sets Clean and Jerk World Record, wins bronze at Asian Weightlifting Championships

Mirabai Chanu recorded a new personal best of 205kg (86+119) to clinch the bronze at the Asian Weightlifting Championship. This was her first competition in over a year.

Published : Apr 17, 2021 21:40 IST

Mirabai Chanu's Clean and Jerk lift of 119kg set a new world record, going past Chinese lifter Jiang Huihua's previous record of 118kg.

Mirabai Chanu set a new World Record in the women's 49kg Clean and Jerk with a massive 119kg lift on Saturday. She also recorded a new personal best of 205kg (86+119) to clinch the bronze at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Tashkent. This was her first competition in over a year.

Her previous best was 203kg , which she achieved in the National championships in Kolkata in February last year.

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The 26-year-old Indian got off to a shaky start as he failed her first two attempts in Snatch before lifting 86kg in her final attempt.

The former world champion was at her best in the Clean and Jerk as she with 113kg and improved it to 117kg before bettering it further in her last and final attempt by lifting 119kg to storm to the bronze. Her final lift of 119kg set a new world record, going past Chinese lifter Jiang Huihua's previous record of 118kg.

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“It is a big moment. No other Indian had made a world record before this,” said chief coach Vijay Sharma.

Sharma had earlier said that, Mirabai, who is ranked fourth in the world, will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics by competing in the Asian championships (a gold level Olympic qualifying event) and fulfilling the requirement of taking part in six designated events in the prescribed time frame.

Under the new rules, to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, a weightlifter must compete in at least one event in each of the three periods of six months (spread over November 2018 to April 2020), at least six events overall and in at least one gold and silver-level event.