Women are leading India's run at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in Australia. Weightlifter Punam Yadav picked a gold in the women’s 69kg event, Manu Bhaker got the women’s 10m air pistol event. Heena Sidhu collected the silver medal. At the start of the game, Manipur's Mirabai Chanu and Sanjita Chanu made the country proud by winning Gold in weightlifting.
Let's know more about these powerful women and their feat.
Punam Yadav
Punam Yadav won a Gold medal in Women’s 69 kg weightlifting Gold Coast. England’s Sarah Davies gave her a stiff competition. Back in 2014 she won a bronze medal and lifted a total weight of 222 kg, 100 kg in Snatch, 118 kg in Clean and Jerk.
She comes from a humble family, from a village near Varanasi. She studied at the Vidyapeeth in Varanasi but didn't have enough funds to grow in the sport of her choice. With some help from an uncle and encouragement from her sister, she trained and today she has done India proud by winning the gold.
Also: Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu Wins India’s First Gold At CWG 2018
Manu Bhaker
This is first time that the 16 year old Manu Bhaker is participating in Commonwealth Games and she has already scripted history by winning India's first gold medal in shooting in the women's 10m Air Pistol event. She led throughout the two stages and finished with a score of 240.9, which is a new Commonwealth Games record. She also is the youngest Indian to win art the World Cup shooting championships.
With a investment of 150000 ₹ by her father, Manu Bhaker decided to take up competitive shooting. Her first successes at the international level came when she won the silver medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships. In the 2017 National games held at Kerala, Bhaker won nine gold medals. She hails from Jhajjar, in Haryana.
Heena Sidhu
Heena Sidhu clinched a silver medal in shooting after coming back strongly in the elimination round by climbing up steadily. She had secured a silver medal at the Delhi Games in 2010 also. On 7 April 2014, Sidhu became the first Indian pistol shooter to reach number one in world rankings by the International Shooting Sport Federation. In 2013, Sidhu received a Bachelor of Dental Surgery. Sidhu's father was a national sports shooter. Inspiration was at home and she wanted to join her dad and brother in the sport. She is a recipient of the Arjuna Award.
Mirabai Chanu
Mirabai Chanu from Manipur won India’s first gold medal in weightlifting. She won in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting category, going on to better her own personal record. She will be getting a cash reward of Rs 15 lakh by the Manipur government.Saikhom Mirabai Chanu was born on 8 August 1994 in Nongpok Kakching, Imphal, Manipur.
Sanjita Chanu
A day after Mirabai clinched the first gold for the country, Sanjita won a gold in the women’s 53 kg category. She was praised for her extraordinary moves and will be getting a cash reward for Rs. 15 lakh each by the Manipur government. Chanu qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the women's 48 kg category. However, she failed to finish the event as she failed to lift the weight in any of her three attempts in clean & jerk section.
With such stellar sportswomen representing the country at Commonwealth Games, it will be interesting to note the number of medals that are in store for India.
Also read: At 8, Sindhu had promised to be the best sportsperson she could possibly be
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