The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on Saturday confirmed India's veteran weightlifter Mirabai Chanu to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in the women's 49kg category. Chanu, the 2017 world champion in weightlifting, secured her spot in Tokyo by winning a bronze medal by setting a world record at the Asian Championships in Tashkent in April, which has now been officially confirmed.

The 26-year-old from Manipur secured the quota on the basis of the ranking list of the IWF. This Indian lifter is second in the 49kg category with a score of 4133,6172. Tagging him, Sports Authority of India (SAI) tweeted, "TOPS athlete weightlifter Mirabai Chanu qualified for Tokyo 2020 after coming second in the 49kg category in the IWFNET rankings." Chanu was earlier fourth in the rankings but moved up to second after North Korea pulled out of the Olympics. She finished second in the IWF rankings trailing China's Hou Zhihui.

This will be Chanu's second appearance at the Olympics after five years of a disappointing performance in Rio. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, she failed to lift any weight in the clean and jerk and was eliminated from the competition.

The chief minister of Manipur N.Biren Singh and union minister Kirin Rijiju took to Twitter to congratulate the athlete on her remarkable achievement.

Hearty congratulations to @mirabai_chanu on qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in Women's 49 Kg category. Mirabai Chanu has been ranked 2nd in the @iwfnet 's Absolute Ranking List in the 49 Kg category. May your hard work and dedication bring laurels to the country. pic.twitter.com/XDXmCIuQZl

— N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) June 13, 2021