Social Media Is Going Ga-Ga Over Mirabai Chanu

The Tokyo Olympics have begun and India is keeping its hope high from its sports gems. Day One has proved to be very good for the Indians as weightlifter Mirabai Chanu won the silver medal in the women’s 49 kg category on July 24. In the second attempt, Chanu lifted 115 kg which created a new record in the Olympics. In the very first go, Chanu aimed for 117kg but could not complete the lift and then in the second attempt, tried for 115kg and won the silver medal. After 21 years, India has finally won a weightlifting medal in the Olympics. 

In Rio 2016, Chanu failed to bring a medal home but this time, she shone brilliantly in the Olympics. The 26-year-old was extremely happy and tweeted that it is a dream to come for her and she would like to dedicate her medal to the country. She further thanked all the Indians for their prayers. Additionally, she thanked the Ministry of Sports, SAI, IOA, Weightlifting Federation of India, Railways, OGQ, marketing agency and the sponsors for their support. 

The gold medal was grabbed in the same category was won by China’s Hou Zhihui and the Bronze medal was won by Cantik Windy Aisah of Indonesia in weightlifting. Hou Zhihui also managed to win her second gold medal on the very first day. She thanked her team and her coach for her success. 

Twitter’s Reaction To Mirabai Chanu’s Win 

Many sports players like Abhinav A. Bindra and Harbhajan Turbanator congratulated her on her success. She was further praised by other famous personalities like Karen Rijiju, Anurah Thakur and Mithali Raj for her win. Other star cricketers who have congratulated her on the win include Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. Further, even the common people are showing their happiness over her win by changing their Whatsapp DP to Mirabai Chanu to celebrate her. Further, many Cool Photos that embraced her smile after the win was shared. 

Was Mirabai Chanu’s Win Expected?

The expectation from Mirabai Chanu was already high as she has previously impressed everyone with her skills before too. She in total lifted 202 kg (87kg + 115kg) for winning the silver medal. She also created history by becoming the first-ever Indian weightlifter to win a silver medal. She previously participated at Rio five years ago and despite all her effort could not win the medal but this time she outshone herself with her excellent performance. 

PM Modi’s Reaction To Chanu’s Win 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi after witnessing Chanu’s win commented that the entire country is happy with her win and he could not have asked for a happier start to Tokyo 2020. Further, he congratulated her for winning the silver medal and said that her success motivates every Indian. 

More congratulatory messages flooded from other political leaders like Rahul Gandhi who while congratulating her said that India is proud of her daughter. Arvind Kejriwal tweeted his congratulatory message and said that every Indian is proud of her and this is the first medal for India in the Tokyo Olympics. 

Know More About Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics will run from 23rd July 2021 to 8 August 2021. This time the event is hosted by Tokyo, Japan and the motto is United by Emotion. Tokyo Olympics will see 339 events in 33 sports from 50 disciplines. 11,326 athletes from 205 nations will be participating in the event. The event was originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020 but the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time in history that instead of getting cancelled, the Olympic Games has been postponed and rescheduled. New competitions which were introduced in the Tokyo Olympics include 3X3 basketball, freestyle BMX, Madison cycling, baseball and softball. Seiko Hashimoto headed the Tokyo Organizing Committee after the former head resigned for making sexist comments against women during a meeting. 

228 Indian athletes will be participating in Tokyo Olympics 2021 for 18 different sports events. Last time in the Rio Olympics, 2016, 117 Indian athletes participated in 15 different sports and three medals were won. The medals were brought home by Saint Nehwal, Yogeshwar Dutt and Gagan Narang in badminton, freestyle wrestler and rifle shooter respectively.