New Delhi
Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu will compete in a new weight category at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dropped her current 49kg division from the Games. The 31-year-old Manipuri lifter will move up to the 53kg class — the lowest women’s weight category at the 2028 event — following the International Weightlifting Federation’s (IWF) latest restructuring of Olympic divisions.
Chief national coach Vijay Sharma believes the shift could prove advantageous. “This is a good thing for Mirabai because cutting her weight down to 48kg was always taxing,” he told PTI, adding that she will continue competing in her existing category until the 2026 Asian Games before gradually transitioning to 53kg.
Chanu, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at this year’s Commonwealth Championships, has often spoken about the physical toll of maintaining a sub-49kg frame. The move to a higher division, Sharma said, will allow her to build more muscle and improve power output without excessive strain.
The IWF confirmed that six men’s and six women’s weightlifting events will be contested at the 2028 Games, marking an expansion from previous editions. The women’s new Olympic classes are 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, and +86kg.
Although the 49kg division has been reinstated for IWF events such as the World Championships, it will not feature at the Olympics. Chanu will therefore spend the next two years preparing her body and technique for the 53kg category.
With her discipline, resilience, and experience, India’s most celebrated weightlifter is already focused on turning this challenge into another chapter of Olympic success.
