Mirabai Chanu to spearhead India at Weightlifting World Championships

India will field a four-member squad for the World Championships to be held in Bogota, Colombia, from December 5 to 16. Jeremy Lalrinnunga will miss the competition due to injury.

Mirabai Chanu will return to action in a global event for the first time since the Commonwealth Games. | Photo Credit: V. V. KRISHNAN

India will field a four-member squad spearheaded by Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu for the weightlifting World Championships next month. The World Championships will be held in Bogota, Colombia, from December 5 to 16.

Jeremy Lalrinnunga, however, will miss the competition due to injury.

Jeremy, India’s maiden Youth Olympic champion, had injured himself during his gold-medal-winning performance at the Commonwealth Games in July. The 20-year-old Mizo lifter is yet to recover from his thigh and hamstring injury. He had also missed the Asian Championships in October.

Squad

Mirabai Chanu (49kg), Bindyrani Devi (59kg), Achinta Sheuli (73kg) and Gurdeep Singh (+109kg)

“Jeremy is still recovering from the injury he suffered during the Commonwealth Games, so he will not play in these world championships,” India head coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.

“Many lifters from the Commonwealth Games squad are nursing injuries, so we have selected the four lifters who are fit,” Sharma added.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sanket Sargar, who had also sustained an injury (elbow) during the Games and had subsequently undergone surgery, will also miss the world competition. Former world champion Chanu will return to action for the first time since the Commonwealth Games, where she won her third medal and second gold in August.

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Others in the four-member squad include 73kg Commonwealth Games champion Achinta Sheuli, silver medallist Bindyarani Devi and bronze medallist Gurdeep Singh. The four lifters are currently in St. Louis, USA, along with Sharma for a strength and conditioning camp. They are working with Dr. Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter-turned-physical therapist and the strength and conditioning coach.

Chanu has been consulting Horschig since 2020. He has been instrumental in sorting out her imbalance issue which affected her snatch technique. She has had several training stints with Horschig.

The Indian contingent will leave for Bogota on December 1.

The World Championships are the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, it is an additional event and not a compulsory one. Under the 2024 Olympic qualification rule, a lifter has to compulsorily compete in the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup. Apart from the above, the lifter also has to participate in three of the following events - 2022 World Championships, 2023 Continental Championships, 2023 Grand Prix 1, 2023 Grand Prix II, and the 2024 Continental Championships.