Bindyarani Devi is India’s latest weightlifting star to have emerged from Manipur and someone who has continued to polish her reputation with an eye-catching performance at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. On Saturday night, with a majority of India in deep slumber, Bindyarani Devi Sorokhaibam created a CWG record in clean and jerk round by lifting 116kg which when added to her 86kg effort in the snatch round, gave her the silver medal.
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“I am very happy with my performance. I am taking part in the first CWG of my career and I am very happy that I won the silver medal in this,” Bindyarani Devi told news agency ANI after winning the medal.
“I’m very happy to get this silver Today was my life’s best performance. Gold though slipped out of my hand. I will do better next time,” she added.
The 23-year-old, who is a fan of Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu, though came into the limelight last year in December. At the World Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent (Uzbekistan), she won the gold medal in women’s 55kg clean and jerk by lifting 114kg.
At the 2019 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships, she introduced herself to the world with a gold medal winning effort by lifting 198kg. She was the favourite to defend her title at the 2021 edition of the competition but surprisingly, had to remain contend with a silver.
Bindyarani, who hails from Manipur, was once called ‘Mirabai 2.0’.
And it’s not a far-fetched comparison.
Born in 1999, Bindyarani trained at the same academy as her ‘Mirabai di’.
And her di has been quite important to her success and in the past has helped the youngster by gifting her lifting shoes.
“Mira di has been very important to my success,” Bindyarani was quoted as saying by Firstpost.
“She is always there to help me with my technique and training. When I was new at the camp, she also ensured I settle down easy. Di knew I didn’t have the money to buy the lifting shoes but she didn’t think twice before gifting me those shoes. She was always an inspiration and her down-to-earth behaviour made me her bigger fan.”
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