Mirabai Chanu creates history with a Commonwealth Games gold hat-trick in Glasgow

Mirabai Chanu (ANI Photo) There is a gold winning performance and then there is Mirabai Chan’s way of doing it. In Glasgow on Sunday, the Tokyo Olympics silver medalist looked like child’s play as she completed a hat-trick of Commonwealth Games gold medals. In her very first attempt in the women’s 48kg net category, Mirabai lifted 105kg, good enough for gold. The 31-year-old battle-hardened Mirabai lifted a total of 190kg, showing that she never faced a threat to finish at the top. She lifted 22 kg more than silver medalist Ruth Nyong of Nigeria (168 kg). Bronze went to Irene Henry from Malaysia (167 kg). Also en route, she lifted 85kg in the clean and jerk to set a new Games record and a new Commonwealth record. “It was a good performance and it went the way we planned. We knew 105kg would be enough for her in clean and jerk, so she didn’t put much pressure to lift more. We are doing well in the Asian Games, so we want to make sure she doesn’t take more load than necessary,” Mirabai’s coach Vijay Sharma told TOI. “Though it looked very easy for Mirabai, we did not take the competition lightly. I am happy that Mira became the only lifter to win three golds and a silver at the Commonwealth Games,” the coach added. Earlier, another Manipur lifter Rishikanta Singh helped India add silver to their tally. Rishikanta finished second in the men’s 60kg event after lifting 264kg to equal the Commonwealth record in the snatch category. Rishikanta lifted 121 kg in the snatch and started with a clean sweep with a successful lift of 143 kg in his first attempt. However, he failed in his attempts to lift 148 kg and 151 kg in the next two attempts due to knee discomfort. Rishikanta entered the clean and jerk category in the lead along with Malaysia’s Bin Kasdan Mohamad Aniq, who also lifted 121kg in the clean and jerk. The Malaysian went ahead with a clean move as he lifted 149kg in his first attempt, followed by a successful clean lift of 152kg to take his overall Games record of 273kg. “I came for the gold. I was in the lead after the pull-off but my knee gave me a problem. I was able to clean the weight but I couldn’t push because one leg wasn’t working properly. I tried my best,” Rishikanta told PTI. Kenyan Joshua Amunga Mboya took bronze with a total lift of 260 kg (115 kg + 145 kg). In swimming, the quartet of Dhakshan Shashikumar, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda, Aryan Nehra and Srihari Nataraj clocked 7:39.48 to finish third in their heat to advance to the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final. The Indians finished behind Australia (7:08.66) and England (7:18.13) in Heat 2. Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh lost to Namibia on grass to end their three-match winning streak in the women’s doubles competition. Rupa and Pinki lost a tie-break 0-3 against Amanda Steenkamp and Diana Viljoen. Preeti’s dominant show in boxing saw her win the stoppage contest in the 54kg round of 16 bout.