There was one medal missing from Mirabai Chanu’s collection. And for years, it sat there like an unfinished sentence.

She had won Olympic silver, become a world champion and collected Commonwealth golds. She had lifted her way through triumphs, failures and injuries to become one of the most dependable faces of Indian sport.

But there was no Asian Games medal. Now there is.

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg category in Nagoya on Wednesday, completing a full set of the major medals. She also became India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medallist since Karnam Malleswari won silver in Bangkok in 1998.

Follow the Asian Games 2026 live blog: Watch here

Perhaps no medal could have been more fitting to define the athlete she is. Because if there is one quality that has defined her career, which hasn’t been perfect, is persistence.

Rio was supposed to be her Olympic moment. Instead, she failed to register a valid lift. Five years later, in Tokyo, she made amends and won the silver medal.

Hangzhou was supposed to finally give her the Asian Games medal that had eluded her. Instead, she finished fourth — the podium place slipping away in another heartbreak. Three years later, she returned to Japan, in Nagoya this time, to win the silver medal.

Story continues below this ad

Every time her story seemed to be ending, Chanu found a way of writing a new chapter.

On Wednesday, the 32-year-old Chanu — the oldest in field of seven weightlifters — lifted a total of 198 kg (87 in snatch and 111 in clean and jerk) to finish behind North Korea’s Ri Song-gum, who completed her Asian Games golden hat-trick. Indonesia’s Wijayana Luluk Diani Tri won the bronze after lifting a total of 191 kg (87 snatch, 103 clean and jerk).

More to follow…