Olympic blow for Mirabai Chanu as 49kg event scrapped for LA 2028, lifter forced to move up

In a massive blow for India’s Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has removed her women’s 49kg from the upcoming 2028 LA Olympics. This is despite the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles comprising 12 weightlifting events, compared to the 2024 Paris Games.

Chanu had won the silver in the women’s 49kg at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and came fourth in the same category in the Paris Olympics last year. However, she will now need to move up in the weight class to the 53kg category if she wishes to participate in LA 2028.

“Following the encouraging decision taken by the IOC to enlarge the weightlifting programme at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 – where 12 events (six men, six women) will be contested – the IWF selected the bodyweight categories for the upcoming Olympic rendezvous,” IWF said in a statement.

“These Olympic bodyweight categories are included in the recently-approved slight change of IWF’s 16 bodyweight categories (eight per gender).”

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The 53kg category is the lowest weight class for women's weightlifters in the LA 2028 programme list. It was not a part of the Paris Olympics 2024.

New weightlifting bodyweight categories for 2028 LA Olympics:

Men: 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg, +110kg

Women: 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, +86kg

Mirabai faces weight class challenge ahead of 2028 Olympics

With three years to go, the Manipuri Chanu has more than enough time to move to a higher weight category, but her biggest challenge is to consistently lift 200kg or more. She came fourth in the 2024 Olympics by lifting 199kg across snatch and clean and jerk. She lifted 199kg overall again last month to win the World Championships silver in the new 48kg weight class.

Mirabai had won the 2017 Worlds gold in the same 48kg category before a silver in the 49kg class in 2022.

The 31-year-old's fitness has also been an issue recently, with Chanu regularly facing hip, shoulder and wrist injuries.

Despite the Olympic weight class challenge, Mirabai is not expected to make any immediate change as she is focused on winning the Asian Games gold next year.

“The Asian Games is the only major event where she hasn’t won a medal, so the priority is to stay fit and compete there. After that, depending on how she is feeling physically, we will take a call on whether she will stay on till the 2028 Olympics,” a source told The Indian Express.

She will be competing in the 49kg class in the 2026 Asian Games.