Nagoya, Sep 23 (IANS) Chef de Mission and Indian Weightlifting Federation president Sahdev Yadav hailed Mirabai Chanu’s historic Asian Games silver, saying the weightlifter had finally broken India’s 28-year medal drought in the sport at the continental Games.
“I see it very well. I am very happy. After 28 years, Mirabai has broken this hurdle. And 28 years ago, the poundage in the 56kg category; compared to that, how far has she gone in 49kg? She has improved a lot,” Sahdev told IANS.
“The whole of India is looking at Mirabai. There was a lot of hope in her. You all had hope. I had hope too, and I was sure that she would win a medal. But it was not that she would win silver, bronze, or gold.
“But okay, she won silver. She did a good lift, and she has passed five lifts. We let her go for one lift because it was of no use. If she goes for a lift in comparison to that and gets injured, we have a lot of Games ahead.
“There is an Olympic qualifier in China next month, so we took her safely and gave her a lift. So, we were lifting her for the silver medal. Gold was impossible this time, but we will see in the future.”
Chanu secured a silver medal in the women's 49kg event with a total weight of 198kg, this being the sum of an 87kg snatch and an 111kg clean and jerk. Ri Song-gum from North Korea won the gold with 210kg, and Wijayana Luluk Diani Tri of Indonesia obtained the bronze with 191kg.
The medal at last ended Chanu's long wait at the Asian Games; she had been absent from the 2018 Games because of an injury and finished fourth at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, where a thigh injury impacted her clean and jerk.
The silver medal thus completed Chanu's collection of medals won at the Olympics, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, and at the same time brought an end to India's 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Asian Games since Karnam Malleswari's silver medal at the 1998 Bangkok Games.
Yadav also backed Chanu’s long-standing desire to receive the Arjuna Award and said he would personally raise the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“She has a dream, and she says it again and again, so the government should think. I will request this time when I meet the Prime Minister to give the Arjuna Award to Mirabai. She has a dream. She wants to have Arjuna’s picture, photo, and statue in her house.
“If a child has a dream, it should be fulfilled. And she deserves it. She got the Padma Shri and Khel Ratna, but she has a dream: ‘Why didn’t I get the Arjuna Award?’ She has a passion in her heart, so she should fulfil it.
“And we will all try. Through you. So, you do it. You do it. We will do it too.”
--IANS
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