She made a successful comeback after an injury lay-off, but India’s top weightlifter Mirabai Chanu realises that she needs to improve her performance by a few notches if she wants to claim gold at the Tokyo Olympics.

Mirabai, a 2017 World Championships gold medallist (in 48kg) was laid low due to a lower back injury that kept her out for eight months, claimed gold at the EGAT Cup in Thailand last week in her new 49 kg category. She finished on top with an effort of 192 kg.

But Mirabai knows only too well that she will have to go way beyond the 200kg mark sooner than later so that she can compete with the best in the world in her new weight category.

“With the increase of 1kg from 48 to 49, all the weightlifters will now try to increase their total lift. Moreover, some lifters, who were competing in 53kg earlier will now come down to 49kg. So, the competition will be tougher now,” Mirabai said in an interview.

“I am doing 199-200kg during training and I am confident of going past 200kg in the actual competitions in the next few months. My aim is to touch 210kg before the Tokyo Olympics, which will be the world record. It will not be easy but my target is to do that and I will have to work harder than before,” she added.

Last year, the International Weightlifting Federation rejigged the weight categories for both men and women in the Olympics and other global events. The least Olympic weight in the women’s category has been changed to 49kg from earlier 48kg.

The 2018 World Championships in Turkmenistan was held under the new weight system and the gold, silver and bronze winners there lifted 209kg, 208kg and 206kg respectively. Even the fourth-place finisher lifted 201kg.

“I have to do better than the 209kg if I have to keep myself in the frame for a Tokyo Olympics gold. I hope to do that before the Olympics. The Asian Championships in April in China) and 2019 World Championships will give me a chance to do that as the best in the world will be there.

At the end of the qualification period, the IWF will issue a list of weightlifters on the basis of Absolute Ranking Points subject to participation in two events in the same Olympic category and calculated from four results best one from each of the three periods and one next best result in the whole of qualification period.

“Earlier, a weightlifter may qualify for Olympics early in the qualification period and his or her performance may dip before going into the Olympics. Under the new system, I have to keep my performance consistent because I cannot miss taking part in all the three periods,” she said.