In Pictures: Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu wins silver at Asian Games 2026

Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg category in Nagoya on Wednesday, completing a full set of major medals (Source: Photo by PTI)

She had won Olympic silver, become a world champion and collected Commonwealth golds, but an Asian Games medal was the only major medal missing from Mirabai Chanu’s collection (Source: Photo by PTI)

She also became India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medallist since Karnam Malleswari won silver in Bangkok in 1998 (Source: Photo by PTI)

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 (Source: Photo by PTI)

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 meda (Source: Photo by PTI)

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 (Source: Photo by PTI)

Every time her story seemed to be ending, Chanu found a way of writing a new chapter (Source: Photo by PTI)

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 (Source: Photo by PTI)

Indonesia’s Wijayana Luluk Diani Tri won the bronze after lifting a total of 191 kg (87 snatch, 103 clean and jerk) (Source: Photo by PTI)