Commonwealth Championships: Mirabai Chanu returns to action as Indian lifters eye rich medal haul

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu will return to competitive action on Monday (August 25, 2025) after a year-long hiatus, leading the home challenge at the Commonwealth Championships where Indian weightlifters are expected to bag a rich medal haul.

Chanu, who has battled injuries in recent years, was last seen at the Paris Games in last August, where she missed the podium by a kilogram.

With the new Olympic weight categories in force for the 2028 Los Angeles Games, the 31-year-old has decided to move down from the 49kg division to 48kg, a weight class in which she won her world championship title and two Commonwealth Games medals, but hasn’t competed in it since 2018.

Managing the weight will be a challenge, and Chanu herself has admitted it. But the tenacious Manipuri, who has collected almost every accolade the sport has to offer, has embraced it.

Working closely with chief national coach Vijay Sharma, she has also been fine-tuning her technique in pursuit of the elusive 90kg snatch.

However, as she works towards peaking in October’s World Championships, Chanu will not be going full tilt at the Commonwealth Championships, which is one of the qualifying tournaments for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“I’m not putting all my effort into Ahmedabad because I’m preparing for the World Championships. My biggest target is the Asian Games, where I aim to break world records and win a medal, as I have none there yet,” she said on Saturday.

While Chanu remains the star attraction, India’s contingent is expected to finish on the podium in almost every weight category. Commonwealth events — Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth Championships — have long been a happy hunting ground for Indian lifters, who benefit from the absence of heavyweights like China and North Korea.

When India last hosted the Championships in 2023, the home team signed off with a rich haul of 20 medals.

This time too, several CWG medallists, including silver-winner Bindiyarani Devi and bronze medallists Harjinder Kaur and Lovepreet Singh, will look to add to India’s tally.

Indian Team:

Women: Mirabai Chanu (48kg), Sneha Soren (53kg), Bindyarani Devi (58kg), Seram Nirupama Devi (63kg), Harjinder Kaur (69kg), Harmanpreet Kaur (77kg), Vanshita Verma (86kg:), Mehak Sharma (+86kg)

Men: Chanambam Rishikanta Singh (60kg); M Raja (65kg); Narayana Ajith (71kg), Valluri Ajaya Babu (79kg), Ajay Singh(88kg), Dilbag Singh (94kg), Harcharan Singh (110kg), Lovepreet Singh (+110kg).