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Congratulations to Saikhom Mirabai Chanu for adding another feather to her cap and setting a new record by clinching India’s first gold on the first day of the Commonwealth Games 2018. Chanu won in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting category. She went on to better her own personal record.

It was a stunning show when the Manipuri weightlifter scripted the record of 86 in the snatch, then her personal best of 85 kg in the category and then surpassed her 109 kg clean and jerk record to lift 110kg in the category. She lifted a total of 196 kg to give India its first gold on the very first day.

Another Indian, Gururaja, won the silver in the 56 kg weight category on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games. But of course, Chanu’s gold medal overshadowed his medal.

World Champion Chanu also created a new Commonwealth Games record in the process, breaking six records in six lifts to finish first in the women’s 48 kg.

This is her second CWG medal since a silver clinch in Glasgow four years ago. The highlight Chanu’s CWG feat was her personal best lift of 86kg in the snatch category – all in the span of six minutes – and 110kg in the clean and jerk.

The 23-year-old Indian lifter – who works as a senior ticket checker with the Indian Railways – achieved this record after surpassing the CWG record of 175kg set by Nigeria’s Augustina Nwaokolo in Delhi in 2010.

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