CWG 2026: Gold, silver and the strength to endure – Behind India's weightlifting medals

There are numbers that tell a story, and then there are stories that make the numbers matter.

On Sunday at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, India added three more medals to its weightlifting tally.

Mirabai Chanu once again stood atop the podium, winning a record-breaking gold in the women's 48kg category.

A few hours later, Chanambam Rishikanta Singh and Muthupandi Raja added silver medals in the men's 60kg and 65kg events respectively.

The medal count will be remembered. But what made the day special was that the three podium finishes represented three very different battles that had been fought long before the athletes walked onto the competition platform.

Mirabai has spent over a decade carrying the weight of expectation. Every time she competes, the question is not whether she will medal, but whether she will dominate.

Since becoming India's first Olympic silver medallist in weightlifting, the Manipuri has lived under the constant pressure of remaining the country's standard-bearer, returning from injuries time and again to prove she still belongs at the summit.

In Glasgow, she did exactly that, rewriting Commonwealth Games records to claim a third straight gold medal.

For Rishikanta and Muthupandi, however, simply reaching the Commonwealth Games was a victory in itself.

Years before becoming one of India's brightest weightlifting prospects, Rishikanta had walked away from the sport.

Financial realities forced him into daily-wage work, earning barely enough to get through each day. The dream of representing India had begun to fade under the weight of survival.

But some dreams refuse to disappear.

Training opportunities through the Army Sports Institute, the National Institute of Sports and exposure abroad gradually brought him back to elite weightlifting.

On Sunday, the man who once left the sport behind returned to the Commonwealth Games platform to produce a Games-record snatch before finishing with a silver medal.

It was not just another podium finish. It made him the first male weightlifter from Manipur to win a Commonwealth Games medal, adding a new chapter to a state that has long been synonymous with Indian weightlifting excellence.

If Rishikanta's story is about rediscovering a dream, Muthupandi Raja's is about refusing to surrender one.

The Tamil Nadu lifter looked destined for a bright international career until a devastating elbow ligament tear during the 2019 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships changed everything.

Surgery followed. Then the pandemic disrupted rehabilitation. Just as he began working his way back, jaundice struck. Soon after came appendicitis surgery, forcing yet another lengthy spell away from competition.

Months became years. Progress gave way to frustration. At one stage, the thought of quitting weightlifting altogether became very real.

Instead of giving up, Muthupandi chose to rebuild himself. He studied strength and conditioning to better understand his own body, returned to training with renewed belief and slowly climbed back through the national ranks. Every competition became another step towards proving that his career had not ended with an injury.

Standing on the Commonwealth Games podium with a silver medal around his neck was the reward for a comeback that had taken far longer than anyone could have imagined.

Their journeys are different, but they intersect in one important way.

None of them had a straightforward path to Glasgow.

Mirabai's challenge was staying at the pinnacle after conquering it. Rishikanta had to fight his way back into a sport he had once left behind. Muthupandi had to overcome injuries, illness and self-doubt that threatened to cut short his career before it truly began.

Indian weightlifting has often been measured by medals. Golds and silvers are the currency by which success is judged. Yet days like Sunday serve as a reminder that medals rarely tell the whole story.

Behind every successful lift are years of unseen repetition, setbacks and sacrifice.

There are mornings when training feels impossible, competitions missed because of injuries, families who continue believing when athletes begin to doubt themselves and coaches who convince them to keep going one more day.

Glasgow did celebrate three Indian medallists on Sunday. But what it truly celebrated were three athletes who showed that success in sport is rarely built on perfect journeys.

More often, it is forged through resilience, the ability to lift yourself back up every time life threatens to weigh you down.