Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu finally added an Asian Games medal to her decorated career, winning silver in the women’s 49kg category at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Nagoya on Wednesday.
Chanu recorded a combined lift of 198kg, including 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk, to finish second in the competition. The medal is her first at the Asian Games after previous appearances ended without a podium finish.
Editorial Insight
Key Highlights
Important points readers should notice.
Issue/Event: Mirabai Chanu won silver in women’s 49kg weightlifting.
Location: Nagoya, Japan — Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026.
Authority/Organisation: Asian Games / Olympic Council of Asia.
Action Taken: Chanu lifted a combined 198kg to secure second place.
Impact: India won its first Asian Games weightlifting medal since 1998.
North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won the gold medal with a total of 215kg, while Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana took bronze with 191kg.
Chanu’s silver also ended India’s 28-year wait for a medal in Asian Games weightlifting. The country’s previous weightlifting medal had come through Karnam Malleswari at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games.
The result completes a major gap in Chanu’s international medal collection. She already has an Olympic silver medal, a World Championship title and multiple Commonwealth Games gold medals. The Asian Games podium had remained the missing achievement.
Editorial Analysis
Why This Matters
The medal is significant for both Chanu and Indian weightlifting. It gives Chanu the Asian Games medal that had remained absent from her career record and brings India back onto the Asian Games weightlifting podium after 28 years.
Chanu had made her Asian Games debut in 2014, where she finished ninth. She missed the 2018 edition because of injury and finished fourth at the 2023 Hangzhou Games after an injury affected her performance.
At Nagoya, Chanu successfully completed all three of her snatch attempts, progressing through 83kg, 85kg and 87kg. She then lifted 107kg and 111kg in the clean and jerk to secure the silver medal.
