Mirabai Chanu starts training in France ahead of Paris Olympics 2024

France [Paris], July 24 (ANI): Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu started training in France ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024, which are just two days away from starting officially.

Chanu, the 29-year-old weightlifter, started training at La Ferte-Milon in France.

On Tuesday, Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya shared a video of Chanu training, urging people to cheer for the country with the ‘Cheer4Bharat’ hashtag.

“Catch our Tokyo Olympic silver medalist and #TOPSAthlete@mirabai_chanu

training at the prestigious La Ferte-Milon, France, ahead of the #ParisOlympics2024! With the days getting closer, we all get ready to #Cheer4Bharat!,” tweeted Mandaviya.

Chanu secured a silver medal in 49 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 with a combined lift of 202 kg, becoming the first Indian weightlifter to get a silver medal in the Olympics, going past Karnam Malleshwari’s bronze in 2000 Olympics. A successful 115 kg lift in the clean and jerk competition also helped her establish an Olympic record.

Indian contingent will kickstart its Paris Olympics journey from July 25 onwards, with 112 athletes set to feature in 69 medal events across 16 sports.

A 29-member athletics team led by Neeraj Chopra will represent a large chunk of the contingent that will be travelling to France for the Olympics. There will also be a 21-member-strong shooting contingent, which will be the second-largest team sent by India for any sport at Paris 2024. This is the biggest shooting team India has sent in its Olympic history, with 15 shooters sent during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics being in second place, as per Olympics.com.

Tokyo 2020 silver medalist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu will be in action in the women’s 49 kg category competition scheduled for August 7.

The 16 sports India will be competing in during Paris 2024 are: archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis and tennis.