Mirabai Chanu's Asian Games campaign ends in heartbreak, finishes 4th

NEW DELHI: India's star weightlifter Mirabai Chanu's Asian Games campaign came to a painful end as the Olympic silver medalist suffered a dramatic fall on her back during a failed lift attempt.

The unfortunate incident occurred in the women's 49kg event in Hangzhou on Saturday, where success in the lift could have secured her a bronze medal.

Chanu was under pressure after a disappointing performance in the snatch category. She attempted a 117kg clean and jerk lift but failed to clear it on two occasions. A successful lift would have earned her the bronze medal.

In her final attempt, she faced a harsh fall, landing flat on her back, and had to be assisted by the coaching staff. Mirabai Chanu concluded her competition in fourth place, with a total combined effort of 191kg (83kg+108kg).

Vying for the only medal missing from her decorated trophy cabinet, Chanu started with a safe 83kg snatch lift, which ended up being her only legal lift in the section.

The script went awry after that as she hurried her 86kg attempt and ended up fluffling it. Chanu chose not to increase her weight despite several lifters opting to lift more than her.

But the Manipuri just couldn't rise from a squat position and fell forward while the bar fell back.

At the end of snatch, Chanu was in the sixth position with three lifters heaving 90kg or more.

Two-time world champion Jiang Huihua of China logged a best snatch of 94kg which was a whopping 11kg more than Chanu and was also a Games record.

Chanu was forced to make up for her weak snatch in the clean and jerk event.

North Korea's Ri Song-gum defended her Asian Games crown with a world record lift of 124kg in clean and jerk.

Song-gum had a total effort of 216kg (92kg+124kg) as she upstaged local favourite HuiHua 213kg (94kg+119kg) who had to settle for silver.

Thailand's Thanyathon Sukcharoe took home the bronze with 199kg (90kg+109kg).

(With inputs from PTI)