Olympic medal hopeful and former world champion Mirabai Chanu on Tuesday bettered her own national record by lifting a total of 203kg to win the 49kg Gold in the National Weightlifting Championships.
The 25-year-old Manipuri, representing Railways, lifted 88kg in snatch in her second attempt and 115kg in clean and jerk for a total of 203kg.
Mirabai’s previous best of 201kg had come at the World Championship in Thailand in September last year, where she had finished fourth.
Tuesday’s effort has put her in fourth place in world rankings behind Chinese Jiang Huihua (212kg) and Hou Zhihui (211kg) and Korean Ri Song Gum (209kg).
Mirabai was targeting 207kg but lost her balance in the final attempts of both the snatch and clean and jerk.
“I still have some time left for the Asian Championships and I hope to get there (210 kg) before the Olympics,” Mirabai told reporters.
“Everything is going according to our plan. Everyday, we are getting in there. Our target is to achieve 206-207kg at the Asian Championships. It’s all about making some technical adjustments and power-strengthening now.”
With all focus on Mirabai, it was the unheralded 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu, N Ajith, who produced the biggest stunner of the tournament, upsetting defending champion and Commonwealth Championship Gold medallist Achinta Sheuli with national record performance.
Ajith lifted 140kg in snatch and 170kg in clean and jerk for a total of 310kg, which was 4kg more than the defending champion and local favourite Achinta who achieved his personal best in both snatch (138kg) and clean and jerk (168kg) for a total of 306kg.