Mirabai Chanu Wins Silver at World Weightlifting Championships

Indian weightlifter and Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu added another feather to her illustrious career by securing a silver medal in the women’s 49kg category at the World Weightlifting Championships 2025. This marks her third medal at the prestigious event and second career silver after her 2022 podium finish.

Competing after a successful return at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in August where she clinched gold, the 31-year-old lifted a combined total of 199kg (84kg snatch + 115kg clean and jerk). Despite two misses at 87kg in the snatch, Chanu recovered strongly in the clean and jerk, completing all three lifts—109kg, 112kg and 115kg—the same weight she managed at the Tokyo Olympics.

North Korea’s Ri Song Gum claimed the gold medal with a massive 213kg total (91kg snatch + 122kg clean and jerk), setting new world records in both the total and clean and jerk segments. Thailand’s Thanyathon Sukcharoen settled for bronze with a combined 198kg lift (88kg + 110kg).

Chanu is no stranger to the world stage. She won her first world title in 2017 at Anaheim and followed it up with a silver in 2022 at Bogota. With this latest feat, she continues to remain India’s biggest name in weightlifting.

The Indian squad for the Championships includes a 14-member team competing across categories, with the tournament doubling up as a qualifier for the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Among the women, lifters like Koyel Bar (53kg), Bindyarani Devi (58kg), Nirupama Devi Seram (63kg), Harjinder Kaur (69kg), Vanshita Verma (86kg) and Mehak Sharma (87kg+) will be in action. Several of them were medal winners at the recent Commonwealth Championships.

On the men’s side, Lovepreet Singh, a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, leads the contingent. He will be joined by Ajith Narayana and Ajaya Babu Valluri, both gold medallists from the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships held earlier this year.