Mirabai Chanu, one of India’s top gold medal prospects, lived up to expectations by clinching the first gold medal for the country at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 in the women’s 49kg weightlifting final. Chanu, who had won the gold four years ago in Gold Coast, not only defended her title successfully by lifting 201kgs (88kg in snatch and 113kg in clean and jerk) but set a Games record. Chanu’s efforts secured India’s third medal of the day – all three in weightlifting after Sanket Sargar had won silver and Gururaj Poojary had claimed bronze in their respective events.
