We expected Chanu to win gold, but her silver is like gold to us: Mirabai’s family
Imphal, July 24 (IANS)| Family members of Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who won a historic silver medal in the women’s 49kg category at the Tokyo Olympics, are happy with her success, though they were hopeful that she would win the gold.
On Saturday morning, the Manipur weightlifter opened India’s account at the Tokyo Games by winning a silver in the women’s 49kg category. Chanu bettered Karnam Malleswari’s bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics by lifting 202 kg (87 kg – 115 kg). China’s Zhihui Hou won the gold medal with 210kg, while Indonesia’s Windi Kentika finished third (194kg).
Chanu belongs to a low-income family consisting of eight members. Most of them work in the farm. Chanu’s father Saikhom Kriti Meitei said that he watched his daughter’s triumphant performance on television with tears of joy in his eyes. Saukham believes that his daughter has made the country proud on an international platform. Hasmukh Saikhom told IANS, All his hard work has brought him great success.
The father said relatives, friends and well-wishers had gathered at their small home in Liamning’s Nongpok Kakching village to watch Chanu make history in Tokyo. We are mostly vegetarians, but tonight we will prepare a non-vegetarian dinner to celebrate her success, he said. Our daughter opened an account for India. It’s exciting. We wanted him to win gold, but this silver is like a gold medal for us. We are very happy and proud for Chanu. Chanu’s village Nongpok Kakching is in a Covid affected area and hence the family did not allow many people to enter their house and restricted the crowd to close relatives and close neighbours.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Union Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and many others have congratulated the star lifter for his outstanding performance in Tokyo.