Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu's weight category removed from 2028 LA Olympics

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu's chances of a winning a second Olympic medal took a big hit as the International Weightlifting Federation scrapped her weight category ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Chanu, who had won her medal in women's 49kg in Tokyo, will now have to bulk up to the 53kg weight class – the lowest available for women in Los Angeles.

The 31-year-old Chanu has the experience of competing in 55kg once previously, when she competed in the weight class at a qualification tournament in Singapore back in 2022. She, in fact, set the women's 55kg snatch national record then until Bindyarani Devi broke it earlier this year.

Most of Chanu's international success has, however, come in the lighter weight categories. She was crowned the world champion in women's 48kg back in 2017. All of three of her Commonwealth Games medals have also come either in the 48kg or 49kg weight class.

Chanu last competed at the 2025 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Ahmedabad, winning the gold medal in women's 48kg weight division.

The weightlifting weight categories for the 2028 LA Olympics will be as follows:

MEN: 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg, +110kg

WOMEN: 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg, +86kg