Exciting news for weightlifting enthusiasts as the IWF World Cup is scheduled to be held from 31st March this month in Phuket,Thailand.
This is an Olympic Qualification event and will serve as the last chance Qualifier for weightlifters around the world to try and secure their spot for the Paris Olympic Games.
This event is one of the two compulsory events, prescribed by the International Weightlifting Federation(IWF),which the lifters have to attend in order to stay eligible for Olympic Qualification.
As per as the guidelines from IWF an athlete has to attend the two compulsory events and a minimum of three additional events in order to keep themselves eligible for qualification. Countries who haven’t followed this rule,for example North Korea,have been termed as ineligible for participation at the Paris Olympics.
Being a compulsory event,the IWF Worldcup promises a super competitive field in every weight class.
Top weightlifters from around the world will be competing to outlift each other, trying to attempt and post a total which can land them in the top 10 of the Olympic qualification rankings.
INDIAN PARTICIPATION
India has entered two weightlifters in the event,both in the women’s categories. Mirabai Chanu has entered in the Women’s 49kg Category while Bindyarani Devi will be participating in the Women’s 55kg category.
According to the preliminary entry list,India had entered two more weightlifters, Achinta Sheuli in the Men’s 73kg and Gurdeep Singh in the Men’s +109 category.
Achinta Sheuli’s entry was later withdrawn due to his expulsion from the National camp due to disciplinary reasons.The reasons for Gurdeeps’s withdrawal are yet unknown.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Mirabai Chanu has entered in the 49kg B session with an entry total of 185 kg,which is 20 kg less than her personal best total which stands at 205 kg. There maybe two underlying reasons for her choosing to lift at the B session,with a lower entry total.
1) Mirabai is treating this event as a practice session after coming back from an injury, and not risk further injuries by lifting heavy,which can hamper her Olympic medal chances.
2)She will just attend the weigh in and then withdraw from the competition without posting a total.
In either cases,it is most likely that we will not see her post a big total at this event.
Mirabai got injured at the Asian Games last year in an attempt to secure a medal and since then has been slowly focusing on recovering and getting back to her old fitness levels.
In a recent interview,she had stated that she wasn’t back to her peak strength levels yet but wants to just show up and lift at the World cup.
This is apparently a good strategy as a furthur injury can potentially end her chances of a medal repeat in Paris. She doesn’t have to worry about Qualification either as she is in a very comfortable position to qualify for Paris, sitting at a high no 2 spot at the Olympic qualification rankings.
Having almost qualified,her main priority currently is to get back to her old fitness and strength levels fully by the time of the Olympics. A fully fit mirabai chanu is almost a guaranteed Olympic medal for India as her personal best total lift outclasses every lifter in the 49kg class, excpet for Jiang Huihua of China and Ri Song Gum of North Korea. Ri Song Gum will not be competing at the Olympics due to reasons stated above, so Mirabai will be a favourite for a medal atleast,if she can come in fully fit at the Paris games.
Bindyarani Devi will be participating at the A Session of the Women’s 55kg posting an entry total of 200kg. She will be looking to better her personal best total of 202kg,set two years back at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
In the Olympic Qualification rankings,she sits currently at the 29th spot and will almost certainly not qualify,unless she improves her personal best by 20 kg atleast. It is quite apparent here,that she is not looking to qualify for Paris,or else she would have entered in the higher 59kg weight class instead of the 55kg category. Which means ultimately, Mirabai Chanu is going to be the only Indian representative in the sport of Weightlifting at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
SCHEDULE
Women’s 49 Kg B session:Mirabai Chanu- 1st April, 12.00 PM
Women’s 55 kg A Session:Bindyarani Devi- 2nd April, 5:30 PM
Written By | Deep
