National Games 2025: Bindyarani Devi betters Mirabai Chanu's national record in 55kg snatch

Bindyarani Devi, on Friday, improved on the Mirabai Chanu's snatch national record in women's 55kg weightlifting at the 2025 National Games in Uttarakhand.

Bindyarani, a silver medallist from the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, lifted 88kg in snatch to set a new national record. 

The 49kg Olympic medallist Chanu held the previous record with an 86kg lift in the event.

Bindyarani was competing for Manipur at the National Games when she achieved the feat. 

It was indeed a special moment for the 26-year-old weightlifter, who grew up idolising Chanu. In fact, the Tokyo Olympics medallist had gifted Bindyarani with a pair of shoes when she was struggling financially to keep her in the sport.

"She [Chanu] knew I did not have the money to buy the lifting shoes but she didn't think twice before gifting me those shoes," Bindyarani had said after winning her Commonwealth Games medal.

The Bindyarani now holds all three national records in women's 55kg. She also holds the best ever lift of 116kg in clean and jerk and a total record of 202kg in the event.

Both the clean and jerk, total national record were set at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

At the National Games, Bindyarani lifted a total of 201kg for the gold medal in the event. Apart from 88kg in snatch, she successfully lifted 113kg in clean and jerk to finish on top of the podium.