National Games 2025: Gyaneshwari Yadav clinches weightlifting gold in Mirabai's absence

Chhattisgarh’s Gyaneshwari Yadav clinched the women’s 49kg weightlifting gold medal with a world-class lift of 191kg at the 38th National Games in Dehradun, Uttarakhand Thursday. This mark also became her new personal best, improving her previous record by 5kg.

With her remarkable performance at the National Games, Gyaneshwari, now 22, has emerged as a serious prospect for India in the women’s 49kg category - a weight class in which Mirabai Chanu won an Olympic silver at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics.

To put this into perspective, Mirabai first lifted 190kg (in the 48kg category) when she was the same age as Gyaneshwari.

Her 85kg lift in the snatch and 106kg in the clean and jerk further indicated Gyaneshwari's continuous improvement. In the Tokyo Olympics, Mirabai lifted 87kg in the snatch and 115kg in the clean and jerk.

With Mirabai opting out of the National Games, Gyaneshwari cruised to the gold medal. Maharashtra’s Sarika Prabhakar Shingare and Haryana’s Komal Kohar won the silver and bronze medals with an aggregate lift of 179kg. Sarika touched the mark ahead of Komal to lift the silver medal, while Komal settled for the bronze medal.

Gyaneshwari’s rise has been consistent. In October last, she lifted a total of 186kg to win the elite women’s 49kg title at the National Weightlifting Championships in Nagrota Bagwan, Himachal Pradesh.

At the Commonwealth Championships in July, Gyaneshwari clinched gold in Mirabai’s absence, lifting 176kg (78kg in the snatch and 98kg in the clean and jerk) to top the podium.

With this astounding performance, Gyaneshwari has cemented her place as a rising star in Indian weightlifting.