Dodgy hip costs Mirabai, finishes sixth in Asian Championships

A dodgy hip dashed star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu’s hopes of a good outing at the Asian Championships as she could manage only two good lifts and finished a disappointing sixth here on Friday. The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist, competing in the 49kg category, managed to lift 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk for an underwhelming overall effort of 194kg. Her personal best in snatch is 88kg and 119kg in clean and jerk. Chanu could manage only one good lift in snatch and withdrew from the competition after her first clean and jerk attempt. “Mira was experiencing some irritation in her left hip joint. If we had continued with lifts it could have resulted in an injury, so we decided not to risk it,” head coach Vijay Sharma told PTI. “Anyway, the aim was just to participate here. We just wanted to log one legal lift in the clean and jerk to put up a total.” Since the World Championships in December last, where Chanu won a silver with an overall effort of 200kg, Sharma has been saying that the focus is to just participate in the Olympic qualifiers. The plan is to peak at the Asian Games and at the events closer to the Olympics next year. An Asian Games medal is the only one missing from the Manipuri’s trophy cabinet. Japan’s Rira Suzuki, who was competing in the ‘B’ group finished with the same total 194kg (83kg+111kg) as Chanu. But since she completed her lift before Chanu, she finished ahead of the Indian.