I Dedicate This Medal To My Country: Olympian Mirabai Chanu

Indian weightlifter from Manipur Saikhom Mirabai Chanu on Saturday opened India's medals tally at Tokyo 2020 Olympics with silver in the Women's 49kg category and dedicated the medal to the country.

Sharing a post on her social media handle, the 26-year-old lifter wrote, "It's really a dream come true for me".

"I would like to dedicate this medal to my country and would like to thank a billion prayers of all Indians which were with me during this journey," she said, while, adding, "I like to thank my family especially my mother for a lot of sacrifices and believing in me".

Also Read: Her Success Motivates Every Indian: PM Modi On Mirabai Charu's Olympic Win

Mirabai also thanked the Indian government for supporting her, including, Ministry of Sports, Sports Authority of India, Railways, Indian Olympics Association, Weightlifting Federation of India, among others.

She also thanked her coach Vijay Sharma and the supporting staff for her incredible achievement.

"I would like to give special thanks to my coach Vijay Sharma sir and support staff for their continous hardwork, motivation and training," and added, "thank you once again entire weighlifting fraternity and all my countrymen".

Mirabai put an end India's 21-year wait for a weightlifting medal at the Olympics.

The gold went to China's Hou Zhihui for an effort of 210kg (94kg+116kg), while Aisah Windy Cantika of Indonesia took home the bronze with an effort of 194kg (84kg+110kg).

The 26-year-old lifted a total of 202kg (87kg+115kg) to better Karnam Malleswari's bronze in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and open India's account in Tokyo. 

Also Read: Tokyo Olympics: Manipur's Mirabai Chanu Bags Silver In Snatch Category