Mirabai Chanu bags Gold in 6th Qatar International Cup in Doha

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (24), the Former world champion weightlifter won the women’s 49kg category gold medal to open India’s account at 6th Qatar International Cup being held in Doha. Chanu lifted 83kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk to finish on top of podium. However, her performance was way below her personal best of 201 kg which she lifted during this year’s World Championships in Thailand.

The French duo of Anais Michel (172kg) and Manon Lorentz (165kg) took won the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Key Highlights

Chanu who is also a 2018 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold-medallist managed to register only one clean lift in both snatch and clean and jerk categories, as she manged to lift only 83kg in her 2nd attempt in snatch event but then failed to clear 87kg in her final try. She then lifted 111kg in the clean and jerk section in her first attempt but was unable to heave 115kg and 116kg in her final two attempts.

The 24-year-old form Manipur, bagged gold with an effort of 194kg in Olympic qualifying event, with the points which will come in handy when final rankings for 2020 Tokyo Olympics cut are done.

Condition: To qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a weightlifter must compete in at least 1 event in each of the three periods of 6 months (i.e. form November 2018- April 2020), at least 6 events overall and in at least 1 gold and another silver level event.

Other Winner: India’s Jeremy Lalrinnunga won the silver medal in the men’s 67kg category, with a total lift of 306kg (140kg in snatch and 166kg in clean and jerk).

About Qatar 6th International Cup- Weight Lifting

Qatar is hosting the 6th Edition of Weight Lifting International Cup at a glittering tournament slated to start on 19 December 2019 and will conclude on the 24 December 2019.

History: The Qatar Cup tournament is held under supervision and organization of International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) and also Qatar Weightlifting Federation (QWF). The tournament has been held from 2015 onwards with editions in 2016 and 2018.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2019