Manipur’s Mirabai Chanu on Thursday created a new Commonwealth Games record when she clinched the first gold for India.
The weightlifter lifted 86 kg in Snatch, surpassing her personal best of 85 kg in the category and then surpassed her 109 kg clean and jerk record to lift 110kg in the category. Her total lift of 196 kg in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting category delivered India’s first gold medal on the first day of the Commonwealth Games 2018.
It came hours after Gururaja won the silver in the 56 kg weight category.
Competing in the 48kg category, Chanu, who claimed a silver at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was being considered a sure shot medal prospect for India as her personal best of 194kg stands over 10kg more than her nearest rival in the competition. Chanu had become only the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to emerge a world champion in November 2017 when she created a new world record of 194kg – 85kg snatch and 109kg clean-and-jerk to lift Gold at the World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, US.
