Olympics: Weightlifter Mirabai starts practice, shooters, rowers land in Tokyo

Indian weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu had her first practice session in Tokyo on Saturday. Mirabai, along with her coach Vijay Sharma, assistant coach Sandeep Kumar and other members of the staff had landed in Tokyo from the training base in St Louis, USA on Friday.

On Saturday, Mirabai was seen in a high intensity training session, lifting weights with a mask on her face and trying to work on her snatch lift.

In a short video provided by the Sports Authority of India, her coach Sharma is praising and encouraging her to do the lifts well. The 26-year-old is seen as a big medal contender in the women's 49 kg category.

Mirabai will be trying to make amends for a disappointing show at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Mirabai's event will take place on July 24, a day after the opening ceremony.


Meanwhile, the Indian shooting team landed in Tokyo on Saturday. The 15-member squad, along with coaches and support staff, touched down in Tokyo after leaving their training base of Zagreb in Croatia via Amsterdam.

The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) posted a tweet of the shooting team's arrival in Tokyo for the Olympics. The squad comprises of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Abhishek Verma, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Deepak Kumar, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Elavenil Valarivan, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat, Sanjeev Rajput, Saurabh Chaudhary, Tejaswini Sawant and Yashaswini Singh Deswal.

The shooting events begin on July 24 with 10m air rifle for women and 10m air pistol for men.


Athletes of different disciplines have already arrived and started to practice. The rowing team of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh also reached Tokyo on Friday and are practising for their event, men's lightweight double sculls.

Before them, the sailing team of Varun Thakkar, Ganapathy Chengappa, Vishnu Saravanan and Nethra Kumanan had arrived and began its practice sessions. The sailing competition begins on July 25.-IANS