International
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu created history by winning the gold medal in women’s weightlifting in the 49 kg weight category on the second day of the Commonwealth Games 2022 held in Birmingham, England.
Even before this, she won the gold medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a world record and four years before that, and she won the silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her biggest success was winning a gold medal in the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships held in Anaheim, United States.
She has not only created a new history in weightlifting with his success and has given it a new direction. In the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in the 49 kg category. She is the first woman to win India’s silver medal in weightlifting. Earlier, this feat is in the name of Karnam Malleswari. She won the bronze medal in Sydney Olympics 2000. She lifted 87 kg in snatch and a total of 202 kg in clean and jerk, including 115 kg and clinched the silver medal.
She won a silver medal in the 48 kg category of weightlifting event in the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow. She lifted a total of 170 kg, 75 in the snatch and 95 in the clean and jerk. She qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but failed to win a medal after all three failed clean and jerk attempts. She also won a gold medal in the twelfth South Asian Games held in Guwahati in 2016. In 2017 he won the gold medal in the 48 kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships.
In 2018, she could not participate in the Asian Games due to injury. She was born on 8 August 1994 in Nongpok Kakching village, 20 km from Imphal, Manipur. She is the youngest among 6 siblings. As the family was financially weak, she had to go to the mountains to collect wood with his brother Saikhom Santomba Meitei. During this time, she was only 12 years old. Her early education was completed in her village itself. She won the Under-15 title at the age of just 12 and became the junior champion at the age of 17.
Due to the bad financial condition of the house, she could not buy an iron bar, so she continued her training by making a bar from the talk itself. Her interest in sports started, and she started working hard. There was no training center in the village. She used to go 40-50 km away from her village for training. When she was in her village, she used to do her practice with the help of her boss. They did not even have enough money to pay the fare for their travel. For this, she made friends with the truckers and started traveling in the truck itself. However, she was interested in archery in his childhood. But by the time he came to the eighth standard, her mind had changed. In the eighth book, there was a mention of weightlifting Kunjarani Devi. She was extremely impressed after reading his biography.
Only after that did she decide to make a career in weightlifting. When she entered the playground, Kunjarani Devi herself was the coach of Mirabai in her role of coach. Her father, Psychohm Kriti Meitei, worked in the Public Works Department (PWD) to run his family. Her mother, Psychohm Ungbi Tombi Limaal, used to run a shop apart from handling household chores. In 2018, she was awarded the Padma Shri and the highest sports award Khel Ratna. The Chief Minister of Manipur also gave her an amount of 20 lakhs due to her good performance and dedication to sports.
It is pertinent to mention here that after winning the silver medal in Tokyo, the Railways and the Government of India gave an amount of 2 crores as a prize. The Manipur government also honored him with the rank of Superintendent of Police with Rs 1 crore and a sports quota. She is also very active on Instagram. Her body is slim and fit; her height is 4 feet 11 inches, and her weight is 48 kilograms.
She was standing on the podium wearing the tricolor, and tears were pouring down her eyes. Chanu says with great humility that winning a medal for the country is a matter of pride. Those were my tears of joy. She further says that Chanu says that a player’s life is different. After every game comes a new challenge for us. Our working hours are not fixed. After every match, you have to work harder.