Indian sports fraternity hails Mirabai Chanu on historic silver medal at Tokyo Olympics

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won India's first medal in the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, claiming silver in the women's 49kg weightlifting.

Mirabai had a total lift of 202kg - 87kg in snatch and 115kg in clean and jerk as she finished second behind China's Hou Zihui 210kg (94 & 116) who set an Olympic record in snatch.

The 26-year-old is the only second Indian weightlifter to win a medal at the Olympics, after Karnam Malleswari achieved the feat with a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The diminutive Mannipuri broke down after realising that she has secured a medal and hugged head coach Vijay Sharma in jubiliation.

She later broke into a punjabi bhangra too to celebrate the historic podium finish.

As Mirabai won the silver medal in Tokyo, the Indian sports fraternity hailed her tremendous achievement.

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Abhinav Bindra, who is the only Indian to win a gold medal in individual event in Olympics history, wrote, "Many many Congratulations to @mirabai_chanu on winning India’s first medal at #Tokyo2020. Such An inspiring performance that will be remembered for a long time to come and will inspire generations. Well done."

Former Indian cricketer and batting legend Sachin Tendulkar also took to his official Twitter account to wish Chanu. "Mirabai Chanu! Absolutely amazing display of weightlifting. The way you have transformed yourself after your injury and clinched a historic silver for #TeamIndia is absolutely stupendous. You have made Flag of India very proud. #Tokyo2020 #Olympics," wrote Tendulkar.