Mirabai Chanu's coach: Intense training with total discipline made the medal possible

Discipline and sacrifices made the Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medal for weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, her coach Vijay Sharma revealed in an exclusive interview with Asianet News.

Discipline and sacrifices made the Tokyo Olympics 2020 silver medal for weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, her coach Vijay Sharma revealed.

Speaking exclusively to Asianet News, Mirabai's coach Vijay Sharma said: "After Rio Olympics, we waited five years for this Olympics. After the debacle in Rio in 2016, we did intense training with full discipline. That training has made the medal possible for India. We have sacrificed a lot in the last five years. We didn't attend any function at home, even sister's marriage. We used to visit home for five days in one or two years. So, there were a lot of sacrifices. This also included food habits, which Mira undertook. Those sacrifices and maintaining of discipline have shown a result."

He further said, "After we failed in Rio, we did a lot of work on our training. We changed the technique of our lifts. There were a lot of lessons we learnt from the Rio failure. We missed the clean and jerk there. The missed clean and jerk motivated us, and we created a world record in clean and jerk at the Asian Championships. Mirabai lifted 190 kgs there. She is the first Indian weightlifter to set a record on the international stage."

Speaking about the next mission for him and Mirabai, Sharma said: I am very happy we won silver. But we are not satisfied with silver. We will work harder for the next Olympics. I assure you that we will try hard for the Gold."