“Everything is okay now, recovery is good”- Confident Mirabai Chanu eyes second Olympic medal at Paris 2024
Two-time Commonwealth Games champion, Mirabai Chanu, recently, made her comeback from a long injury at the World Cup. She picked up a hip injury at the Asian Games last year, which sidelined her for a substantial period.
She began training only last month and in her recent comeback appearance at the World Cup, Mirabai lifted a total weight of 184 kg (81kg + 103kg), finishing in 12th place.
Despite an ordinary result, the Indian weightlifter was elated because she managed to return to action after just one month’s training.
“I was delighted to be back in competition. Everything is okay now, recovery is good. I’m training at 70 per cent,” Chanu told PTI.
“It felt very good. After the injury (at Asian Games), I lifted weights after 4-5 months and I got a lot of confidence,” she said. “Weightlifting is different, there is always fear as to what will happen. I felt confident that I was able to make a recovery so fast."
Interestingly, the Asian Games is the only tournament in which Mirabai Chanu hasn’t clinched a medal. She has won a medal at the Olympics, twice at the Commonwealth Games, and also achieved glory at the World Championships and Asian Championships.
At the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games as well, she picked up a hip injury. Mirabai claimed that the recovery period after that injury was a tough one as negative thoughts kept crossing her mind. Her mother went to Patiala at that time to give her emotional support.
“When we returned from the Asian Games, the doctor said I need to rest. But even after that, it didn’t get okay. I used to feel pain while squatting. Injury always leads to mental disturbance. You keep on thinking what will happen in the future? Will I be able to train? “I called my family, my mother stayed here with me. That gave me a lot of support. I relaxed my mind and did the exercises that I could in 4-5 months.”
“Everything is going well and if things continue I will give my best in Paris” - Mirabai Chanu
Only four months are left for the start of the much-awaited Olympics event but Mirabai Chanu is quite confident of her appearance at the event and bringing her second Olympic medal at the global event.
Notably, Sushil Kumar and PV Sindhu are the only Indians to win back-to-back Olympic medals in individual sports.
“I only just started training…hardly one month. Given that, I was able to perform well. But now we know what I have to work on and what needs to be done. Everything is going well and if things continue I will give my best in Paris.”
“This time 200kg won’t fetch a medal. There will be a tough fight. Plans are in place for a 205kg plus total but execution needs to be perfect,” she said.
Mirabai Chanu won the Tokyo Olympics gold medal after lifting a total weight of 202kg in the women’s 49kg category. With the competition rising, Mirabai ought to raise the bar if she wants to write history.