Y.B. Sarangi
KOLKATA
Eight top lifters, including Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu and Commonwealth Games champions Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli, will train in the USA for a month ahead of the World weightlifting championships in Paris in December.
Qualifying event
The Worlds will be the first qualifying event for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sanket Sargar, who missed out on a gold by injuring his right hand during the competition, former CWG champion R.V. Rahul, who has been struggling with injury issues, and two other Birmingham Games medallists Bindyarani Devi and Gurdeep Singh will also be part of the contingent that will leave for the USA on August 23.
Chief national coach Vijay Sharma and a physio will accompany the lifters who will train under the supervision of expert physiotherapist Dr. Aaron Horschig, who worked with Mirabai in the past.
“We will work with Aaron. Everybody has some issues. I have spoken to a strength and conditioning coach over there. We want to avail that benefit. How we will take his help will be finalised after reaching there. If we want good performances (at the top level), then we have to do things differently,” Sharma told The Hindu.
The Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) had decided to send six lifters to the USA for training in March but none, except Mirabai, could travel due to visa issues.
Government support
This time the IWLF ensured that the lifters got their visas in time. “The Government has provided all sorts of support for this trip,” said Sharma.