Golden comeback but Mirabai Chanu in constant battle with fear of injury

Top Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu Tuesday said she lives in fear of injuring herself ahead of next year's Tokyo Olympics despite recovering from an unspecified back problem, which marred her progress in 2018.

After the gold-winning performance in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last year, Mirabai had complained of lower back pain.

The injury puzzled doctors across the country, who were unable to diagnose the cause, forcing the 24-year-old to miss the Asian Games and the World Championships in the same year.

"A lot has changed after the injury. There is a always a fear as to what will happen if I get injured again. I have to think twice before every lift, every training session," Mirabai told PTI.

About nine months later, the back pain has subsided allowing Mirabai to make a successful comeback to the arena. She notched up a gold medal a the EGAT Cup in Thailand in her first outing after the setback.

The injury has led Mirabai and coach Vijay Sharma to tweak their training regimen.

"My approach has changed because we don't know why the pain occurred in the first place. Was it because of some exercise or was it because of my technique, we still don't know that," she said.

"She is taking things a bit slowly," added Sharma, only slightly elaborating on what has changed for the star.

Mirabai has enjoyed a good run since her comeback. In the Asian Championships in April, she missed out on a medal by a whisker.

The 24-year-old had lifted 199kg (86kg+113kg), her personal best, but lost out to China's Zhang Rong, owing to a lower clean and jerk result.

She then got back to winning ways by notching up the gold at the recently concluded Commonwealth Championships.

"My progress since the injury has been good. I have won gold EGAT and then again in Commonwealth Championships. I am satisfied with the performance."
Asked if that's added pressure considering the 53kg lifters have an advantage over her, Mirabai said: "I am not thinking about others. I have to focus on my performance."