Mirabai Chanu in constant battle with fear of injury

After the gold-winning performance in the Commonwealth Games last year, Mirabai had complained of lower back pain. The injury puzzled doctors across the country, who were unable to diagnose the cause, forcing the 24-year-old to miss the Asian Games and the World Championships in the same year.

“A lot has changed after the injury. There is always a fear as to what will happen if I get injured again. I have to think twice before every lift, every training session,” said Mirabai. About nine months later, the back pain has subsided, allowing Mirabai to make a successful comeback to the arena. She notched up a gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Thailand in her first outing after the setback.

Mirabai and coach Vijay Sharma have tweaked the training regimen, courtesy the injury. “My approach has changed because we don’t know why the pain occurred in the first place. Was it because of some exercise or was it because of my technique, we still don’t know that,” she added. “She is taking things a bit slowly,” stated Sharma, only slightly elaborating on what has changed for the star.

Mirabai has enjoyed a good run since her comeback. In the Asian Championships in April, she missed out on a medal by a whisker. The 24-year-old had lifted 199kg (86kg+113kg), her personal best, but lost out to China’s Zhang Rong owing to a lower clean and jerk result. She then got back to winning ways by notching up gold at the recently concluded Commonwealth Championships.

“My progress since the injury has been good. I am satisfied with the performance.” The diminutive Manipuri has now set her sights on the World Championships, scheduled to be held in September. She has fond memories of the tournament, where she was crowned champion in 2017.

There is so much expectation and with that a lot of pressure as the upcoming competition will also double up as an Olympic qualifying event. “Expectations are much more because I am returning for the first time and this is the main event for the Olympics. But I try not to think about it. I just keep in mind what the coach tells me.”