Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu who sustained a hip injury during the Asian Games, is eyeing a return to the sport at the Asian Championships next year.
The Asian Championships – an Olympic qualifying event – is set to take place from February 3 to 10 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. However, as with the World Championships in September, she will only be able to confirm her participation by fulfilling the necessary formalities at the next Olympic qualifying event, the IWF Grand Prix II in Doha from December 4 to 14.
Chanu was diagnosed with hip tendonitis after suffering the injury last month while competing in the Hangzhou Games. She had failed to lift 117kg in the clean and jerk and looked in considerable pain before she had to be carried away.
National coach Vijay Sharma confirmed to PTI that Mira had hip tendonitis, specifically an issue in her TFL but is in recovery now.
“The doctor had asked Mira to rest for six weeks. She has started her rehab process in Patiala. She is 75 percent fit now. She will start training from December 20,” he said.
The former world champion also suffers from an imbalance issue in her right shoulder and back. Earlier at the Asian Championships in May, a sprained hip had forced her to miss her last two tries, effectively ending her medal aspirations.
Sharma added: “All her injuries are in some way caused by that imbalance issue. But she will fully recover (from the latest injury) by the Asian Championships and that will be her comeback event.”
According to the Paris Olympics qualification criteria, a lifter must compete in both the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 World Cup in order to qualify for the 2024 Games.
Aside from the aforementioned requirements, the lifter must also compete in three of the following events: the 2022 World Championships, the 2023 Continental Championships, the 2023 Grand Prix 1, the 2023 Grand Prix II, and the 2024 Continental Championships.