The country’s best weightlifters, including Mirabai Chanu, have opted to miss the Asian Championship in favour of the World meet. The meet serves as a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics.
Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu and seven other elite weightlifters from India will go to the United States on Tuesday. There will be a three-and-a-half-week strength and conditioning (S&C) training camp in St. Louis.
Chanu will go to St. Louis, Missouri, for a three-and-a-half-week program together with 2022 Commonwealth Games medalists Jeremy Lalrinnunga, Achinta Sheuli, Sanket Sagar, Gurdeep Singh, Bindyarani Devi, previous CWG champion R V Rahul, and Asian Championship gold medalist Jhilli Dalabehra.
Dr. Aaron Horschig, a former weightlifter turned physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach will work with these weightlifters. Mirabai Chanu has been working with Horsching since 2020. In March, prior to the CWG, she completed a month-long training programme with Horschig. He has assisted her in addressing the unbalance problem that was affecting her snatching technique.
“We will be in the USA for 23–24 days. It is the off-season, so we will have a strength program there,” coach Vijay Sharma told PTI.
Sagar will undergo rehabilitation after undergoing surgery for an elbow injury sustained during his event at the CWG.
The coach also said that lifters have small discomforts like Gurdeep, who has some issue with his wrist. “We want everyone to be perfectly fit for the World Championships,” he added.
Senior weightlifters will skip this year’s Asian Championship in order to compete in the world meet, which serves as a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics.
The Asian Championship is set to take place from October 6 to 16 in Manama, Bahrain. India will have a ‘B’ squad made up of junior weightlifters.
The World Championship is the initial competition for the 2024 Paris Olympics. It will take place from December 5 to December 15 in Bogota, Colombia.
“The focus is on the World Championship, which is a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics,” the head coach added.
Earlier this month, the Indian weightlifting team came home with a haul of 10 medals, including three golds and a sizable number of silvers.
Also, Read- Sharath Kamal eye Olympics after CWG conquest.
