Asian Games 2026: Mirabai Chanu ends India's weightlifting medal drought with silver in 49kg category

India's star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has finally gotten her elusive Asiad medal, winning a silver in women's 49kg weightlifting at the ongoing 2026 Asian Games on Wednesday (Sep 23). Chanu's medal is the first for India in weightlifting since Karnam Malleswari's silver in 1998. This is also Mirabai's first Asian Games medal, adding to her Olympic silver (Tokyo 2020), and titles at the World Championships, Asian Championships, and Commonwealth Games. Chanu had heartbreakingly missed winning a medal in the last edition of the Asian Games in Hangzhou (2023), China, where she finished fourth after injuring herself on her final clean and jerk attempt.

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How Mirabai Chanu won the elusive Asian Games medal

Mirabai was impressive during the snatch part of the event, lifting progressively 83 kg, 85 kg, and 87 kg in her three attempts. In the clean and jerk, she lifted 107 kg in her first attempt and 111 kg in her second attempt to take her total to 198 kg, which proved good enough for the silver medal. Watch her win the silver below:

The gold was won by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s Ri Song Gum with a total weight of 215 kg (94 kg + 121 kg). The bronze medal went to Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana with a total weight of 191 kg (88 kg + 103 kg).

How other Indian athletes performed

In other results, shooter Manu Bhaker, who had won two medals at the Paris Olympics 2024, finished fifth in the 10m air pistol final. The Indian men's and women's teams, however, won bronze in their respective skeet events.

Jay Meena, meanwhile, won India's maiden soft tennis medal, clinching a bronze after losing to Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka in the men's singles semifinal.

Boxer Ankush Panghal moved into the quarterfinals of the men's 80kg event with a 5-0 win over Bahrain’s Hamza Vogel.