At 32, Mirabai Chanu has finally added the one major medal that had remained missing from an extraordinary career.
India’s weightlifting star won silver in the women’s 49kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on 23 September, ending a 12-year wait for an Asian Games podium finish. She lifted 198kg in total, with 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. North Korea’s Ri Song-gum won gold with a record-breaking 215kg, while Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana took bronze with 191kg.
For Chanu, however, the silver was about more than the colour of the medal. It closed one of the few unfinished chapters in a career that already includes an Olympic silver, a world title and multiple Commonwealth Games victories.
A Wait That Began in 2014
Chanu’s Asian Games journey has been unusually difficult.
She made her debut at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, finishing ninth in the 48kg category with a total of 171kg. Four years later, an injury kept her out of the Jakarta Games.
Then came Hangzhou in 2023.
Chanu entered the 49kg competition carrying high expectations but was unable to complete her final clean and jerk attempt after suffering an injury. She finished fourth with a total of 191kg, missing the podium by a narrow margin. The result left the Asian Games as one of the few major competitions where she had yet to win a medal.
Nagoya offered another opportunity.
This time, she finished the job.
The Night in Nagoya
Chanu began the competition steadily, clearing 83kg, 85kg and 87kg in the snatch.
In the clean and jerk, she opened with 107kg before successfully lifting 111kg. That took her total to 198kg and put her firmly into silver-medal position.
There was little Chanu could do about the gold.
Ri Song-gum produced a remarkable performance, lifting 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk. Her 215kg total set new world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall total.
Chanu did not need to chase those numbers. Her 198kg was enough for the silver.
After years of near misses, the podium finally belonged to her.
A Medal Cabinet Almost Complete
Chanu’s career already carried an impressive collection of major honours.
Olympics: Silver at Tokyo 2020, held in 2021, in the 49kg category
World Championships: Gold in 2017, along with silver medals in 2022 and 2025
Commonwealth Games: Silver in 2014 and gold medals in 2018, 2022 and 2026
Asian Championships: Bronze in 2020
The Asian Games medal was the missing piece.
Her Tokyo Olympic silver had made her a national sporting icon. Her Commonwealth record established her consistency. Her world title proved that she could win at the highest level. Nagoya added the continental medal that had repeatedly escaped her.
Why the Silver Matters
A silver medal may appear modest beside a career filled with gold, but the context matters.
Chanu had already experienced the frustration of an Asian Games campaign ending without a medal. In 2014, she finished ninth. In 2018, injury kept her away. In 2023, another injury contributed to a fourth-place finish.
The sport itself offers little room for prolonged recovery. Weightlifting places enormous physical demands on athletes, and Chanu has had to repeatedly rebuild her campaign after injuries.
Her return to the Asian Games after Hangzhou therefore carried a different kind of challenge. She was not simply competing for another medal. She was trying to finally close a chapter that had remained open for more than a decade.
She did that in Nagoya.
A Bigger Moment for Indian Weightlifting
Chanu’s silver also ended India’s 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Asian Games.
India’s previous medal in the sport at the continental Games came in 1998, when Karnam Malleswari won bronze. Chanu’s performance therefore adds a significant new chapter to a discipline that has produced some of the country’s most recognisable sporting figures but has had limited success at the Asian Games.
For young lifters, particularly those coming from regions with strong weightlifting traditions such as Manipur, her journey offers something beyond medals.
It shows what persistence can look like when success does not arrive on schedule.
The Road Ahead
At 32, Chanu has already achieved what most athletes spend an entire career chasing. But Nagoya also shows that the hunger has not disappeared.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are still ahead. Ri Song-gum’s 215kg performance also underlines the level of competition Chanu would face if she continues towards another Olympic campaign.
For now, though, there is no unfinished Asian Games business.
Mirabai Chanu came to Nagoya carrying a medal-sized gap in an otherwise extraordinary résumé.
She leaves with silver.
And, finally, that gap is gone.
India’s weightlifting star won silver in the women’s 49kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on 23 September, ending a 12-year wait for an Asian Games podium finish. She lifted 198kg in total, with 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. North Korea’s Ri Song-gum won gold with a record-breaking 215kg, while Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana took bronze with 191kg.
For Chanu, however, the silver was about more than the colour of the medal. It closed one of the few unfinished chapters in a career that already includes an Olympic silver, a world title and multiple Commonwealth Games victories.
A Wait That Began in 2014
Chanu’s Asian Games journey has been unusually difficult.
She made her debut at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, finishing ninth in the 48kg category with a total of 171kg. Four years later, an injury kept her out of the Jakarta Games.
Then came Hangzhou in 2023.
Chanu entered the 49kg competition carrying high expectations but was unable to complete her final clean and jerk attempt after suffering an injury. She finished fourth with a total of 191kg, missing the podium by a narrow margin. The result left the Asian Games as one of the few major competitions where she had yet to win a medal.
Nagoya offered another opportunity.
This time, she finished the job.
The Night in Nagoya
Chanu began the competition steadily, clearing 83kg, 85kg and 87kg in the snatch.
In the clean and jerk, she opened with 107kg before successfully lifting 111kg. That took her total to 198kg and put her firmly into silver-medal position.
There was little Chanu could do about the gold.
Ri Song-gum produced a remarkable performance, lifting 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk. Her 215kg total set new world records in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall total.
Chanu did not need to chase those numbers. Her 198kg was enough for the silver.
After years of near misses, the podium finally belonged to her.
A Medal Cabinet Almost Complete
Chanu’s career already carried an impressive collection of major honours.
Olympics: Silver at Tokyo 2020, held in 2021, in the 49kg category
World Championships: Gold in 2017, along with silver medals in 2022 and 2025
Commonwealth Games: Silver in 2014 and gold medals in 2018, 2022 and 2026
Asian Championships: Bronze in 2020
The Asian Games medal was the missing piece.
Her Tokyo Olympic silver had made her a national sporting icon. Her Commonwealth record established her consistency. Her world title proved that she could win at the highest level. Nagoya added the continental medal that had repeatedly escaped her.
Why the Silver Matters
A silver medal may appear modest beside a career filled with gold, but the context matters.
Chanu had already experienced the frustration of an Asian Games campaign ending without a medal. In 2014, she finished ninth. In 2018, injury kept her away. In 2023, another injury contributed to a fourth-place finish.
The sport itself offers little room for prolonged recovery. Weightlifting places enormous physical demands on athletes, and Chanu has had to repeatedly rebuild her campaign after injuries.
Her return to the Asian Games after Hangzhou therefore carried a different kind of challenge. She was not simply competing for another medal. She was trying to finally close a chapter that had remained open for more than a decade.
She did that in Nagoya.
A Bigger Moment for Indian Weightlifting
Chanu’s silver also ended India’s 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Asian Games.
India’s previous medal in the sport at the continental Games came in 1998, when Karnam Malleswari won bronze. Chanu’s performance therefore adds a significant new chapter to a discipline that has produced some of the country’s most recognisable sporting figures but has had limited success at the Asian Games.
For young lifters, particularly those coming from regions with strong weightlifting traditions such as Manipur, her journey offers something beyond medals.
It shows what persistence can look like when success does not arrive on schedule.
The Road Ahead
At 32, Chanu has already achieved what most athletes spend an entire career chasing. But Nagoya also shows that the hunger has not disappeared.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are still ahead. Ri Song-gum’s 215kg performance also underlines the level of competition Chanu would face if she continues towards another Olympic campaign.
For now, though, there is no unfinished Asian Games business.
Mirabai Chanu came to Nagoya carrying a medal-sized gap in an otherwise extraordinary résumé.
She leaves with silver.
And, finally, that gap is gone.
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