Mirabai Chanu wins silver in women’s 49kg at Asian Games in Nagoya

Mirabai Chanu clinched a silver medal in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the Asian Games 2026 at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center on Wednesday, September 23. It was her first medal at the continental tournament.

Chanu was competing at her third Asian Games and entered Nagoya without an Asiad medal to her name despite earlier international success. She won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finished ninth in her Asian Games debut at the 2014 Incheon Games, withdrew from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games because of a back injury, and placed fourth at the Hangzhou 2022 Games.

In Nagoya Chanu finished third in the snatch with a best lift of 87kg, moved into second with a best clean and jerk of 111 kg and completed the competition with a total of 198 kg. Those lifts secured her the silver medal in the final standings of the women’s 49kg event.

Ri Song Gum took gold, lifting 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk for a 210kg total that the report described as a new World Record. The North Korean weightlifter’s performance earned her the top podium position and a third consecutive Asian Games title.

The bronze medal went to Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana, who posted a total of 191kg from an 88kg snatch and a 103kg clean and jerk. Her result placed her third behind Ri and Chanu on the final leaderboard.

Chanu’s silver ended a long absence of Indian weightlifters on the Asian Games podium: she is the first Indian weightlifter to win an Asian Games medal since Karnam Malleswari in 1998, when Malleswari won a silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event.

Chanu has now won one Asian Games medal — a silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the Aichi-Nagoya Games 2026.