Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, after earning a silver medal at the Tokyo Games with her extraordinary performance has returned to the nation on Monday to a warm welcome at New Delhi airport where she was greeted exuberantly.
Manipuri, with security and a mask on her face, was greeted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport with the chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and felicitated by officials of the sports fraternity of India among others.
Chanu raised a whole of 202kg (87kg 115kg) in the category of 49kg on Saturday to win this achievement as the only weightlifter from India to win an Olympic silver medal.
Heading back to home 🇮🇳, Thank you #Tokyo2020 for memorable moments of my life. pic.twitter.com/6H2VpAxU1x
— Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (@mirabai_chanu) July 26, 2021
“Happy to be back here in amidst so much so much love and support. Thank you so much,” said the silver-medalist through a tweet after she arrived in the nation.
Happy to be back here in amidst so much love and support. Thank You so much 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/ttjGkkxlDu
— Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (@mirabai_chanu) July 26, 2021
Former world champion and a Commonwealth Games gold-medalist Chanu also became the first athlete to win a medal on the very first day of the Olympics and the second to confirm a medal in weightlifting since Karnam Malleswari in over two decades.
For this accomplishment, Mirabai will be rewarded Rs 1 crore cash in addition to which she is earning for the victory declared earlier by the Manipuri Government. Chief Minister N Biren Singh also said on Monday that she will be elected as the Additional Superintendent of Police in the state police department.