Mirabai Chanu arrives in Aichi-Nagoya with five clear rivals for Asian Games 2026 weightlifting

Mirabai Chanu has arrived in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, to begin her weightlifting campaign at the Asian Games 2026 in a few days. She is the most prominent member of India's all-women weightlifting squad travelling to the event.

Chanu enters the Games as an Olympic silver medallist who has yet to win an Asian Games medal and will be aiming for a podium finish in Japan. The competition is expected to be strong, with China, North Korea and Thailand cited as traditional powerhouses in the sport and Japanese and Chinese Taipei athletes also named among medal contenders. Chanu’s preparations in Aichi-Nagoya come against that regional backdrop of established rivals.

Rira Suzuki will compete on home soil and arrives with silver medals from both the World Championships and the Asian Championships. The Japanese lifter aims to add an Asian Games podium to that list while lifting in front of the domestic crowd.

Luluk Diana Tri won gold in the women’s 48 kg category at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand with a total lift of 184 kg. The 21-year-old will make her Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya and is part of a younger cohort stepping up to compete against the continent’s leading lifters.

Suthasini Kaeosingkhon will represent Thailand after World Championship silver medallist Thanyathon Sukchareon sat out. Earlier this year at the IWF World Junior Weightlifting Championships in Egypt she won a bronze medal in the snatch with a lift of 77 kg.

Fang Wan-ling, a competitor in the 49 kg class, earned a silver medal at the Asian Championships earlier this year and has Olympic experience. She was a member of Chinese Taipei’s team at the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018, where she finished sixth.

Ri Song Gum enters as the two-time defending Asian Games champion and is the world record holder for the highest combined weight in the women’s 49 kg category. In Hangzhou she lifted a total of 216 kg to win gold by a margin of 3 kg, and she is regarded in the preview as the likely name to top the category, although other lifters could challenge her.

Chanu will start her event in Aichi-Nagoya in a few days, facing the five rivals named above as she seeks her first Asian Games medal.