Weightlifting, IWF World Cup: Bindyarani Devi wins bronze in women’s 55kg

Indian weightlifter Bindyarani Devi, on Tuesday, bounced back after a disappointing show in snatch to win the bronze medal in women’s 59 kg event at the IWF World Cup in Phuket, Thailand.

Bindyarani, a Commonwealth Games silver medallist, registered a total lift of 196 kg to finish third in the competition behind North Korea’s Kang Hyon Gyong and Romania’s Cambei Mihaela-Valentina, who lifted 234 kg and 201 kg respectively.

The 25-year-old lifter from Manipur also took home the silver medal in clean and jerk with a best lift of 113 kg. Earlier, she had lifted 83 kg in snatch to be placed sixth in the competition.

Bindyarani started off in a wrong note in Phuket, dropping her first snatch attempt of 83 kg. She then successfully lifted the weight in her second attempt before dropping her next try of 86 kg.

The Indian, however, redeemed herself in the clean and jerk event. She successfully lifted 110 kg with her first attempt before improving it to 113 kg in her second.

Though she dropped her third and final clean and jerk attempt of 119 kg, Bindyarani had done enough by then to pip Jose Gallant of Canada, who lifted a total of 194 kg, for the bronze medal.

Earlier in the tournament, Mirabai Chanu, who was returning from a six-month long injury layoff had finished 12th overall in women’s 49kg with a total lift of 184 kg.

Chanu had to be carried off the platform after her final attempt at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou last year.

“Mira didn’t go back to her home after the Asian Games, she went to the national camp and did whatever she could without forcing her hip,” said coach Vijay Sharma as per The International Weightlifting Federation.

“She had already qualified so there was no point stretching her here. We want her to peak at the right time, and we know she can do much better now.

“It has taken her six months to recover, four and half months of it resting with only very light workouts,” he added.

The IWF World Cup in Phuket is a mandatory event for the 2024 Paris Olympics qualification. While Chanu, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist has already qualified for the quadrennial event, Bindyarani’s weight class of 55 kg is a non-Olympic category.