Former World champion and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist,  Saikhom Chanu Mirabai lifted a total of 191 kg on the opening day of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship  held at Samoa islands, claiming the gold in the 49 weight category on Tuesday.

The 25-year-old weightlifter from Manipur had earlier withdrawn from the 2018 Asian Games and World Championship, saying that she needed time to prepare for the big Olympic qualifiers. With a severe lower back injury, Mirabai was on a break for almost four months staying at a rehabilitation centre in Mumbai. In April this year she came back in international competition and narrowly missed a medal at the Asian Weightlifting Championship held in April, finishing fourth in the 49kg event lifting 199kg (86kg+113kg).

With her lift of 191kg (84kg + 107 kg) in the senior women’s 49 kg event in the Olympic qualifying event, Mirabai has set her eye on the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

“Every day before going to bed and before the start of my training, I look at the figure 200 Kg. I tell myself it is not impossible to cross the 200 kg weight bar. This is the target I set for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Every day I feel motivated looking at the figure,” a charged Mirabai Chanu said when asked how she is training for the Olympics.

“I have competed with Asian weightlifters at the Rio Olympics and 2017 World Championship. I have followed their performance at the Asian Games. All of them have matured a lot, changing their style and technique. The break I took helped me a lot in understanding my opponents,” reflected the Manipuri weightlifter.

Mirabai Chanu comes from a financially challenged family with her father working as a lower level employee at the Public Works Department in Imphal while her mother runs a small tea stall in their village.

Saikhom began her weightlifting career in 2007 and came into limelight during the trials of Rio Olympics 2016 weightlifting event in Patiala where she broke the national record of her hero, Kunjarani Devi. In 2017, Mirabai ended India’s 22-year wait for World Championship gold, becoming the first Indian in over two decades to win a gold medal at the World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, the USA lifting 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to an impressive total of 194kg in the women’s 48kg.

Meanwhile, two other weightlifters from Manipur also bagged the top spots in their categories. In the female senior 55 kg category, Sorokhaibam Bindyarani Devi won gold while Ch Rishikanta grabbed the yellow medal in the senior men 55 kg category.