Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter. In the year 2018, Mirabai was awarded the prestigious ‘Padma Shri’ award. Mirabai Chanu is the second Indian woman to win a silver medal in weightlifting at the Olympics game.
Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter. Her full name is Saikhom Mirabai Chanu. She was born on 8 August 1994 in Nongpok Kakching, Imphal, Manipur. Her zodiac sign is Leo. Her father, Saikhom Kriti Meetai is a worker in the Public Works Department. Her mother, Saikhom Aungbi Tombi Leema is a shopkeeper. Mirabai has 5 siblings.
Mirabai’s favourites
Her hobbies include travelling and listening to music.
Her favourite Indian dish is Kangsoi.
Priyanka Chopra is her favourite actress.
Mirabai considers Sania Mirza as her inspiration.
She owns a Mahindra TUV 300.
Interesting facts about Mirabai Chanu
Mirabai Chanu is the second Indian woman to win a silver medal in weightlifting at the Olympics game.
Mirabai Chanu was brought up in Manipur. She is the youngest and sixth child in her family.
Mirabai Chanu idolizes India's famous weightlifter Namirkapam Kunjarani Devi.
She started weightlifting in the year 2008 at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal. There was no weightlifting centre near her village and she used to travel 44 km daily for training.
She won the first gold medal of her career at the age of 11 in a local weightlifting competition.
Mirabai’s first game
In the year 2011, she first participated in the International Youth Championship and South Asian Junior Weightlifting Games won the gold medal.
In 2013, she participated in the Weightlifting Junior National Championship held in Guwahati, India. She was awarded the ‘Best Lifter Award’.
In the year 2014, she represented India in the Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow. She won the silver medal in the women's 48 kg category by lifting a total weight of 170 kg.
On 31 August 2015, she was appointed as a Senior Ticket Collector in the Indian Railways Department.
Olympic games
In the year 2016, she qualified for the Rio Olympics in the women's 48 kg category.
In 2017, she was selected for the World Weightlifting Championships held in Anaheim, CA, United States, in the women's 48 kg category.
She lifted a total of 194 kg (85 kg snatch and 109 kg clean and jerk) and won another gold medal for India after 22 years. Earlier, Karnam Malleswari had won two gold medals for India in the World Weightlifting Championships in 1994 and 1995.
In 2018, she represented India at the Commonwealth Games and won her first gold medal for India in the women's 48 kg category.
Setting world records
She lifted a total of 196 kg (86 kg in snatch and 110 kg in clean and jerk). She broke the previous weightlifting record which was 175 kg set by Nigeria's Augustine Novakolo in 2010.
Mirabai Chanu won India's second medal in the women's weightlifting event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Mirabai Chanu registered a new Olympic record by lifting 115 kg.
Manipur’s CM N Biren Singh announced an award of Rs 1 crore to Mirabai Chanu and also appointed her to the post of SP in the police department by the state government.
Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, while congratulating world weightlifting champion Mirabai Chanu for her victory, tweeted that Mahindra company will gift her a TUV300, a compact SUV car.
Becoming a brand ambassador
In October 2021 she was featured on the cover page of the internationally famous magazine ‘Vogue’.
In the year 2021, she was appointed as the brand ambassador of Northeastern Re-organizing Cultural Association FC.
The same year, she was selected as the face of the famous clothing brand Adidas for their 'Stay in Play' campaign.
Mirabai Chanu won the gold medal by lifting 191 kg (86 kg +105 kg) in the Singapore Weightlifting International Games held in Singapore on 25 February 2022.
Awards
In the year 2018, Mirabai Chanu was awarded the fourth highest civilian award of India ‘Padma Shri’.
In the year 2018, she was honoured with India's highest sports honour ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna’.
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