Hindustan Times ·
Asian Games: Mirabai’s final frontier amid a dominant duopoly
Mirabai Chanu aims to conquer the Asian Games, the one title that eludes her, despite past successes and fierce competition from China and North Korea.
New Delhi: Coach Vijay Sharma calls it the final frontier. Mirabai Chanu gives a resigned, wistful smile at its mention. No international competition, not even the Olympics and the World Championships, has teased and taunted India’s best weightlifter as much. Only six Indian women have set foot on the podium for a total of nine medals (4 silver, 5 bronze). There’s a reason Chanu refers to the Asian Games as her Holy Grail.
“I have won everything in my career but this is one medal that has eluded me. I’d like to correct that anomaly this time,” Chanu told HT. It’s a statement one has listened to for years; a periodic ache that resurfaces every four years. After a ninth place on her Asiad debut in 2014, Chanu missed the 2018 edition due to a lower back injury — she calls it her worst injury — that sidelined her for nine months.
