Mirabai Chanu Wins Silver, Ends India's 28-Year Wait

NEW DELHI- 

Mirabai Chanu Wins Silver, Ends India's 28-Year Wait

India's Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women's 49kg weightlifting event at Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya, lifting a total of 198kg. The Tokyo Olympic medallist ended India's 28-year wait for a weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari's historic 1998 feat.

North Korea's Ri Song-gum claimed gold with a world-record 215kg total, while Chanu's silver lifted India's Asian Games 2026 medal tally. The 32-year-old, a multiple Commonwealth Games champion and world title holder, now owns medals from every major weightlifting event.

With this Asian Games 2026 silver, Mirabai Chanu has completed a remarkable career sweep - Olympic, World Championship, Commonwealth Games, and now Asian Games podiums, making her only the second Indian weightlifter after Karnam Malleswari to achieve this feat. She opened her snatch with 83kg, progressed to 85kg and a clean 87kg, before a best clean-and-jerk lift of 111kg sealed her weightlifting silver at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center. "I had the belief in me that I would be able to win," Chanu said after the event, dedicating the medal to her coaches and support staff who backed her through years of injury setbacks.