New Delhi: Mirabai Chanu scripted history on Thursday by becoming the first Indian woman in over two decades to clinch gold at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championship in Anaheim, USA.
The 23-year-old ended India's 22-year-long wait for a World Championship gold by creating a new world record of 194-kg - lifting 85 kg snatch and 109 kg in clean-and-jerk.
With the win, Chanu also became only the second Indian weightlifter ever to have won the gold medal in the World Championship. It was also India's first gold in the tournament.
Sydney Olympics bronze-medallist Karnam Malleswari is the only other lifter to have achieved that feat. She won the gold in the 1994 and 1995 edition in the 54-kg category.
Reflecting on the same, Malleswari told ANI, "Today is a big day for weightlifting. After 22 years, an Indian has snapped the record. I believe good days have come for weightlifting. The government will also now focus on weightlifting."
When asked if this victory will help in boosting the other wrestlers' confidence, she exclaimed, "Yes, definitely."
Malleswari further said that the victory would help in making Chanu mentally strong, while expressing that the latter would surely bring a medal in the upcoming Olympics.
"It was a really close fight and Mirabai Chanu performed really well. I was really hopeful that she would bag the medal in Olympics as well, but unfortunately it didn't happen. The victory will now help in making her mentally strong for the upcoming Olympics. She will definitely win the medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," she said.
After displaying a mediocre performance at the Rio Olympics, Chanu qualified for Commonwealth Games (2018) after winning a gold at the Commonwealth Senior (men and women) weightlifting championships held at Gold Coast, Australia.
En route to the victory, she also broke the Commonwealth record in snatch event by lifting 85-kg and bettered her own record by one kilogram.
