Mirabai Chanu takes Asian Games silver in Nagoya, ends India's 28-year weightlifting drought

Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women's 49kg weightlifting at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday, posting a 198kg total and ending India's 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the continental Games. North Korea's Ri Song Gum took gold with a 215kg total and Indonesia's Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with 191kg.

Chanu arrived in Nagoya after mixed fortunes at previous Asian Games — she finished ninth at Incheon in 2014, missed Jakarta in 2018 because of a back injury and placed fourth at Hangzhou in 2023 after an injury during the clean and jerk. She came into the competition having won her third straight Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow earlier this year, where she lifted 85kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk. The Asian Games field featured stronger opposition, led by defending champion and world champion Ri.

In the snatch portion Chanu completed all three attempts, successfully lifting 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. Ri moved ahead in that phase with a 94kg lift. Chanu's clean snatch sequence kept her in contention heading into the clean and jerk.

During the clean and jerk Chanu opened with 107kg and then succeeded with 111kg on her second attempt, taking her total to 198kg. That total gave her a clear advantage over Wijayana, who failed to complete a 107kg clean and jerk attempt. Chanu could not bridge the gap to Ri but her two successful clean and jerk lifts secured the silver.

Ri was operating in a different bracket, lifting 116kg before attempting 121kg and setting a world record to finish on 215kg. Her performance put clear distance between the gold and the rest of the field.

Chanu's medal ends a long absence for India on the Asian Games weightlifting podium; the country's previous medal was Karnam Malleswari's silver in Bangkok in 1998, and no Indian weightlifter had stood on the podium at the continental Games since. The result also fills the one notable gap in Chanu's medal collection: despite Olympic, World Championship and multiple Commonwealth medals — including three consecutive Commonwealth Games golds — she had not previously stood on an Asian Games podium; the 31-year-old achieved that for the first time in Nagoya.

Ri Song Gum claimed her third successive Asian Games gold with 215kg, while Chanu's silver restored India to the Asian Games weightlifting podium for the first time since 1998.