Mirabai Chanu has only one prayer on her lips, that the Tokyo Olympics go on as per schedule despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Otherwise, all her efforts of trying to win an Olympic medal will go down the drain.
For the last four years, Mirabai has laboured for a successful Olympics outing but all she can think of right now is about the fate of the July 24-August 9 Games, which could be postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“If the Olympics don’t happen all our efforts for the last four years will go to waste. I don’t want it to cancel, I am praying to God every day. I just want to get an Olympic medal for myself,” Mirabai said.
Mirabai’s maiden Olympic campaign had ended in disappointment as she failed to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in the clean and jerk section.
“The pressure (of winning a medal) has changed to the Olympics and it should not be cancelled. That’s all I’m thinking.
“The rest, training, etc. I am not worried about right now. Even if it’s postponed there will be a lot of problem because a lot can change in a short period of time for us,” she said.
Schedule gone haywire
Weightlifting’s Olympic qualifying schedule has also gone haywire.
The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) had to cancel five continental championships, including the Asia event.
The Asian Championships, which was relocated from Kazakhstan to Tashkent in Uzbekistan was the last tournament before the Olympics for Mirabai. She had missed out on a bronze by a whisker last year.
The Manipuri, had aimed to improve her total effort of 203kg (88kg+115kg).
“I was preparing for Asian very well. There was a lot of uncertainty whether it will happen or not. I have already qualified for the Olympics but in the Asian Championship we would have got a clear picture,” she said.
“I wanted to improve my effort here so that I could go to the Olympics high on confidence. That was the target. If the Asian Championship had taken place it would have been a good platform for me to better my performance.”
