Mirabai: Indian weightlifting's lone ranger at Tokyo Olympics

New Delhi: Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has emerged as a strong contender in the women's 49kg category in the run up to the Olympics, making her one of the brightest medal prospects at the Tokyo Games.

The lone Indian weightlifter to qualify for the Tokyo Games, Chanu will be eager to make amends for the disappointing show at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she had failed to record a legal lift in any of her three attempts in clean and jerk and thus could not get an overall total in women's 48kg.

PTI takes a look at Chanu's strengths and weaknesses ahead of the Tokyo Games.

Chanu's comeback from the dismal show at the Rio Games five years ago has been a remarkable one to say the least.

Not only did she silence her detractors by winning the gold in the world championship in 2017 and the Commonwealth Games a year later, the diminutive Manipuri also overcame an unspecified back problem, which marred her progress in 2018, and changed her weight category to 49kg from her original 48 kg after the international federation decided to introduce new categories in the sport in the run up to the Tokyo

Games.

What had led to her downfall in the Rio Games -- the clean and jerk -- has now become Chanu's strength. The 26-year-old has consistently improved in the section to stay in contention for medals at top events.