Sanamacha Thingbaijam Chanu real inspiration, the gem in Indian weightlifting arena

Sanamacha Chanu (born 2 October 1978) is an Indian weightlifter who competed in the women's 53 kg weight class at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The 43 year old Chanu, is one of the most successful woman weightlifters in the country. She is an Arjuna awardee of the year 2000. She is from Imphal in Manipur state.

Sanamacha Chanu shares her experiences and the path through which she had to travel to reach the success in her life. Her career in sports started at a very young age. The start of the weightlifting career in her life was in 1992, when she was 14 years old. Her teacher was the one who sow the seed of sports in her life. She played the most important role in taking her weightlifting career to greater heights. She was the one who encouraged Sanamacha Chanu by sharing with her the stories of leading female sportspersons in the country.

Sanamacha Chanu was immediately drawn to activities in sports and made up her mind to be a great sportsperson and make the country proud. She excelled in sports at a very young age. But during those times her family had an orthodox mindset and did not support her to pursue a career in sports. They had an opinion that sports and weightlifting was all meant for boys and not girls. But Chanu was adamant and wanted to change this mindset of her family as well as her villagers.

Sanamacha Chanu proved that she had a future in weightlifting by winning a weightlifting championship conducted by the Sports Authority of India in Manipur. This was her first step towards building up her own space in the weightlifting journey. After winning this title, Chanu became more confident and surer that this is the event where is could achieve great heights. Weightlifter Kunjarani Devi had also inspired Sanamacha Chanu to climb the ladder of weightlifting. She had learnt from her teacher about how Kunjarani Devi had made India proud in the international arena. “I was inspired by her story and had then made a strong decision that I also wanted to be a great sportsperson just like her and make India proud. I also spoke to my teacher about this and thus she started helping me”, Chanu said.

Sanamacha Chanu Weightlifting

Her international laurels include winning silver in World Weightlifting Championships in 1996 and 1998, winning gold in 1998 commonwealth weightlifting champion, silver in 1999 Asian weightlifting championship and gold in 2000 Asian weightlifting championship etc. to name a few. She had also won three gold medals in 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and three golds in 2003 Commonwealth Games in Tonga.

Sanamacha Chanu had been a national champion for eleven times in her career. She has also set national records for five times and was also the best weightlifter of the country for three times. Chanu had also been All India Police Meet Champion for five times. She had also participated in the World Weightlifting Police Meet and World Power Lifting Police Meet in 1999.