Sports can be a viable career option, says Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu

NEW DELHI:  India managed to open its Olympic medal account on the very first day thanks to Mirabai Chanu’s impressive display in the 49kg weightlifting category. The silver medallist, who lifted a total of of 202 kg, said that the performance in Tokyo was her way of keeping a promise she made to herself after her Rio heartbreak. Back at the Rio Olympic Games, the 27-year-old failed to pull off even one legal lift in Clean and Jerk. It was then that she promised herself that the only way to ease the pain is to win a medal at the next Games.

Her World Record during the Asian Championships added to the pressure but in her mind the goal was clear. “The pressure was a lot more this time around. After my Rio disappointment, I had promised myself that in Tokyo I would fetch a medal. That was the only thing in my mind and I worked very hard in the last five years as I had to prove to myself. Add to it the fact that almost everyone in India had identified myself as a medal certainty after my performances in the Asian Championships. That egged me on and I’m glad I could achieve success,” the lifter said during an event on Friday.

The medal, Mirabai hopes, is not only going to popularise weightlifting, but also should serve as a reminder that sports can be a viable career option for kids. And the performances of the likes of Lovlina Borgohain, Kamalpreet Kaur and Aditi Ashok just to name a few show that women can achieve whatever they set their minds to.

“Women are showing they can do everything. That’s the best part. Hopefully, this trend will continue in the next Olympics as well. And for youngsters and their parents, all these medals shows that choosing a sports career can be rewarding be it any sport. The only prerequisite is the will to always work hard and all goals will be achieved.”

Recently, there has been a lot of talk surrounding the sport possibly being dropped from the Paris roster. But Mirabai is hopeful that such a decision will not be taken. “I’m aware of the talks but I don’t have the exact details. Hopefully, such a thing won’t happen. Let’s see what happens in the future.”