Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Mirabai Chanu has won a third consecutive Commonwealth Games title, and she did it in the most emphatic manner available to a weightlifter: by rewriting the Games record in the snatch, in the clean and jerk, and in the total. The Olympic medallist finished the women’s 48kg final with 190 kg — an 85 kg snatch and a 105 kg clean and jerk — and stood 22 kg clear of the rest of the field. It is her fourth Commonwealth Games medal, following silver at Glasgow in 2014 and gold at Gold Coast in 2018 and Birmingham in 2022, and it brought India its first gold of these Games.
She was not alone on the platform. Sunday was India’s strongest day of the Games so far, with medals in all three weightlifting events contested: Rishikanta Singh Chanambam took silver in the men’s 60kg with a 264 kg total, setting a Games snatch record of 121 kg on the way, and Raja Muthupandi added another silver in the men’s 65kg with 286 kg after a determined recovery in the clean and jerk. Together with para powerlifter Jhandu Kumar’s opening bronze, India moved to four medals — one gold, two silver and one bronze — and eighth place on the table.
Three Games, three titles: Mirabai Chanu’s 190 kg total — 85 kg snatch, 105 kg clean and jerk — broke the Games record in all three categories and finished 22 kg clear of the field, completing a hat-trick of Commonwealth crowns.
Twelve years separate her first Commonwealth medal from this one. Longevity like that is not talent alone — it is a decade of showing up, and a system that finally learned to keep pace.
At a Glance
• Gold: Mirabai Chanu, women’s 48kg — 190 kg (85 snatch, 105 clean and jerk)
• Records: Games marks in snatch, clean and jerk and total; 22 kg clear
• Silvers: Rishikanta Singh (60kg, 264 kg); Raja Muthupandi (65kg, 286 kg)
• Tally: four medals — 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze; India eighth
Monday widens the campaign considerably as athletics gets under way at Scotstoun. Sarvesh Kushare, Tejaswin Shankar and J Aadarsh Ram contest the high jump final, and Tejas Shirse goes in the 110m hurdles heats with a final to follow if he qualifies — the start of a track-and-field programme that will bring some of India’s most familiar names into view as the week progresses. The weightlifting platform stays busy too, with Gyaneshwari Yadav in the women’s 53kg final and Bindyarani Devi in the 58kg, while Protistha Samanta competes in the women’s vault final in artistic gymnastics.
The constructive read runs beneath the medal table. Chanu’s third title and a clean sweep of podium places across three weightlifting categories in a single day are not accidents of form; they are the visible output of a decade in which coaching, sports science, competition exposure and athlete funding improved together. The way forward is to keep widening that base — more small-town gyms with qualified coaches, sustained support through the unglamorous years between Games, and pathways that catch the next Chanu at fourteen rather than at twenty-four. A country that can produce one champion for twelve years has done something right. A country that can produce five at once will have done something better.
