‘Asian Games is Mirabai’s main target’

National weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma said winning a medal in the 2022 Asian Games would be the main target for Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu.

Sharma has decided not to field Mirabai in the upcoming World championships in Tashkent from December 7 to 17.

“We are working on Mira’s snatch technique. We are trying to rectify a technical fault. You need time for that. I cannot see the kind of performance she needs to produce to compete at the World championships,” said Sharma on Wednesday.

“Since we are working on the technique, there is no question of how much she does in snatch. In clean and jerk, she has not gone past 100-105kg. We are not taking load in jerk. If you don’t prepare the body for taking the load and rush, then there is a chance of picking up an injury.” Sharma said the Asian Games, where Mirabai would face strong competition from the Chinese lifters, would be the main challenge for the 27-year-old.

“When we are qualifying (for the Commonwealth Games) on the basis of her No.1 ranking, then there is no need to go to the World championships (which is also a qualifying event for the 2022 Commonwealth Games). We have a (CWG qualifying) competition (in Singapore) in February, we need to test ourselves there.

“Even if she does not do anything special, she will win the CWG gold. But the main target is the Asian Games. We have sufficient time to train for the Asiad, which is very close to the CWG. If we achieve the peak too early, then it will be difficult to maintain that performance for a long period of time,” said Sharma.