India had a disappointing first day at the Rio Olympics after their players returned empty handed from the three medal events that were held on the first day. In the last competition of the day, weightlifter Mirabai Chanu had an outside chance to get India a medal but she failed miserably after no lift in the clean and jerk event of the competition. At the start of the competition, Mirabai had a fail lift in the first attempt of snatch but came back with a 82kg lift in the second attempt. Later, she tried improving it in the third event but could not lift it either. In the clean and jerk event, Mirabai began with an attempt of 104kg but she could not lift it. In the second attempt, she tried to go for 106kg, one less than her personal best. She failed to lock in the jerk and could not make it. In the third and final lift, she again tried 106 but could not lift it. After failing all three lifts, her score was not considered for final score and she was out of competition. This was India's chance to win a medal in women's weightlifting after 16 years since Karnam Malleshwari's bronze in Sydney Olympics. The gold in the 48kg women's weightlifting was won by Thailand's Sopita Tanasan with a total lift of 200kg and silver was won by Augustiani of Indonesia, who lifted 192kg. Japan's Miyake won the bronze with a total lift of 188kg. Women's 48kg weightlifting 0542 hrs IST: Final standing - Sopita Tanasan 1st, Agustiani 2nd, Miyake 3rd 0540 hrs IST: Agustiani fails to lift 115kg in two attempts but will still take silver. Gold for Sopita Tanasan. Brilliant 0536 hrs IST: Thailand's Tanasan fails to lift 110kg. Indonesia's Agustiani will lift 115kg. for gold 0535 hrs IST: Tanasan lifts 108kg and pockets the gold but she is still going for 110kg to confirm 0530 hrs IST: All over for Mirabai Chanu! She fails to lift in clean and jerk in all three attempts. She is out of competition 0525 hrs IST: Mirabai Chanu fails to lift 106kg in clean and jerk! And this is all but over. She has to make her PB lift in last attempt 0520 hrs IST: Dominica Republic's lifter fails to lift 105kg in clean and jerk! Difficult for her to medal but still in race 0517 hrs IST: Mirabai Chanu goes for 104kg in first attempt of clean and jerk but fails. This is big blow as the others are lifting more weight 0515 hrs IST: Kings fails to lift 103kg again in third attempt. She is not in medal contention anymore. Mirabai up next 0514 hrs IST: King fails to lift 103kg in clean and jerk. She has a third attempt left but it will be very difficult for her 0506 hrs IST: USA's Whitney King smashes her personal best by lifting 100kg. India needed her to falter 0501 hrs IST: All lifters are lifting below hundred so far. Mirabai will begin later because she can lift better than this 0450 hrs IST: Clean and jerk competiton begins. Mirbai's personal best is 107kg. She has to make up the three kg lost in snatch So mirabai should finish above Ukraine. She needs two out of Indonesia, USA and Dom Republic to falter too. — jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 6 August 2016 0440 hrs IST: Thailand's Tanasan lifts 92kg in third attempt! 7kg lead over next best lifter 0437 hrs IST: Tanasan will lift 92kg in her third attempt. If she does it, then she will have a 7kg advantage 0437 hrs IST: Thailand's Tanasan lifts 90kg in second attempt! Big lead over her competitors. She is clearly the best bet for gold medal 0435 hrs IST: Mirabai is 6th in the lift order heading into the clean and jerk event 0430 hrs IST: Thailand's Tanasan lifts 88kg in first attempt in snatch. She has 2 attempts left before clean and jerk 0425 hrs IST: Dominica Republic's and Indonesian lifters with snatches with a 85kg! This will be difficult for India. 0421 hrs IST: This is good for India huge for India. Vietnam lifter world silver medalist crashes out of competition with no clean snatch This looks like a battle for bronze at best for Mirabai. Of course as long as no one else bombs out. — jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 6 August 2016 0418 hrs IST: Mirabai fails to lift 84kg in snatch! She will now have 82kg from snatch going into the clean and jerk round 0417 hrs IST: Mirabai Chanu on the floor again. Crowd chants 'India, India'.She will try 84kg Mirabai fails at 84. Her snatch is 82kg. 3kg less than her PB — jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 6 August 2016 0415 hrs IST: Ukraine's Iuliia lifts 84kg but she is not balanced. Two judges give white and she gets the lift 0414 hrs IST: USA's Whitney King lifts 83kg in snatch! Great lift from her. Only second to lift that weight 0411 hrs IST: Mirabai lifts 82kg in second attempt! That was an important one for her in the snatch. She needs to pick up Much needed snatch of 82kg by Mirabai. But she is already playing catchup. — jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 6 August 2016 0407 hrs IST: Mirabai Chanu fails to lift 82kg in first attempt. She has 2 more attempts to lift the weight Mirabai's fails her first snatch at 82kg. She isn't getting a PB today. Needed to lift cleanly throughout. — jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) 6 August 2016 0405 hrs IST: Japan's lifters lifts 81kg in third attempt. India's Chanu next for 82 kg 0400 hrs IST: Kazakhstan with lift of 80 kg in snatch. Great lift. USA next. She takes a couples of steps back but lifts the weight 0357 hrs IST: Chen Wei-Ling to lift 79kg. The Beijing silver medallist does it easily! She 0355 hrs IST: Ranaisova fails to lift 79kg after movement in her right elbow 0352 hrs IST: Okoeva fails to lift 75kg and her snatch best remains 72kg. 75kg was her personal best 0349 hrs IST: Okoeva with her second attempt to lift 72kg and she does it easily. Mauritius player is going to lift 73kg 0345 hrs IST: The first lift in snatch competition will be done by Zhanyl Okoeva 0330 hrs IST: Women's event in 48kg is about minutes away. India's Mirabai Chanu a big hope Saikhom Mirabai Chanu earned the Rio 2016 Olympics ticket after giving getting through in Olympics trials held in Patiala. Mirabai broke the 48kg national record held by Olympian and women’s national coach Kunjarani Devi. Chanu's event will being at 0330 hrs IST and will be in Group A with the lift beginning latest by 0345 hrs IST. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu sleepless in Patiala She is a rarity in Indian sport– a world-class athlete who knows she can win an Olympic medal. Hailed by her mentor Kunjurani Devi as a ‘once-in-a-generation’ weightlifter, Chanu knows she has a chance at glory, but is also aware that even a minor error can prove costly. Jonathan Selvaraj on the lifter who can be India’s surprise medallist if she holds her nerves It was late Friday night and as Mirabai Chanu will recall later, she was unable to sleep. It’s not as if she wasn’t tired. She had spent six hours of the day in the weightlifting hall of the National Institute of Sport, Patiala, front squatting nearly three times her bodyweight. As she lay on her bed in her hostel room, she glanced at her mobile phone. Nearly 12 am. She needed to rest. “100, 99,98, 97” she began counting off in her mind. Taught to her by a psychologist, it’s a drill she had repeated many times over the past couple of years. The receding numbers trick worked and Mirabai eventually drifted off to sleep below a poster of China’s legendary 48kg competitor Yang Lian powering a bar weighed down with red, green and yellow plates over her head.
