Mirabai Chanu added another major medal to her career on Wednesday, winning silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Chanu finished with a total of 198kg, combining an 87kg snatch with a 111kg clean and jerk. North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won gold with 215kg, while Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with 191kg.
The Asian Games medal was Chanu’s first at the continental multi-sport event. She had finished ninth at the 2014 Asian Games, missed the 2018 edition because of injury and finished fourth at the 2023 Hangzhou Games after an injury affected her final clean-and-jerk attempt.
Here are five of the major achievements from Chanu’s international career.
Asian Games silver in 2026
Chanu finally secured an Asian Games medal in Aichi-Nagoya after three previous campaigns without a podium finish.
The 32-year-old successfully lifted 83kg, 85kg and 87kg in her three snatch attempts. She then cleared 107kg in her opening clean-and-jerk attempt before lifting 111kg on her second attempt.
Her 198kg total secured the silver medal behind Ri Song Gum. The result also made Chanu only the second Indian weightlifter, after Karnam Malleswari, to win medals at the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships, along with medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Championships.
Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020
Chanu won the silver medal in the women’s 49kg category at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, recording a total of 202kg.
She became the first Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic medal since Karnam Malleswari’s bronze at Sydney 2000. Chanu’s Tokyo medal came five years after she failed to register a valid total at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
World champion in 2017
Chanu became a world champion at the 2017 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, United States.
Competing in the women’s 48kg category, she lifted 85kg in the snatch and 109kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 194kg. She won the gold medal and became India’s first World Weightlifting Championships gold medallist since Karnam Malleswari’s victories in 1994 and 1995.
Chanu subsequently added World Championships silver medals in 2022 and 2025. At the 2025 World Championships in Forde, Norway, she totalled 199kg in the 48kg category, with an 84kg snatch and a 115kg clean and jerk.
Three consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medals
Chanu has won gold at three successive Commonwealth Games editions.
She first won Commonwealth Games gold at Gold Coast 2018 in the 48kg category before successfully defending her title at Birmingham 2022 in the 49kg category.
At Glasgow 2026, she completed the three-peat by winning gold in the women’s 48kg event. She lifted 85kg in the snatch and 105kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 190kg. Her 190kg total was a Games record, while her 85kg snatch also set a Commonwealth Games record.
Chanu’s Commonwealth Games record also includes a silver medal from Glasgow 2014, where she competed in the 48kg category.
World-record clean and jerk of 119kg in 2021
At the 2021 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent, Chanu lifted 119kg in the clean and jerk in the women’s 49kg category, setting a world record at the time.
The lift came as part of a competition in which she also registered an 86kg snatch. Her 119kg clean and jerk surpassed the previous mark in the category and stood as the world record until September 2023.
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