CHENNAI: April was supposed to go very differently for Mirabai Chanu. One of India’s brightest medal hopes at Tokyo Olympics, she was supposed to contest Asian Championships and head straight to Japan for her Olympic preparations.
However, with all sporting activities getting suspended and Olympics itself getting postponed by a year, Mirabai’s plans are in limbo. She is stuck at National Institute of Sport in Patiala, where weightlifters had assembled for the national camp. In a chat with this newspaper, the 25-year-old Manipuri spoke about how she was dealing with the lockdown, and how the pandemic has affected her plans. Excerpts.
Where are you right now and how are you doing?
I’m doing nothing right now (laughs). Right now, I’m still in Patiala. Due to the lockdown, we are not going outside. I’m staying inside my room most of the time. We will be here till May 21, at least.
How’s your family back in Manipur doing?
They’re doing well. My parents, three sisters and two brothers are there. I call them every day. Things are better in Manipur. They are worried about the situation here. They tell me that every day. My mother keeps telling me to take care and not go outside. But where we are in Patiala, it’s quite safe. We’re not going outside the campus, nor are they letting anyone in.
How are you dealing with this break in training?
Right now, all events have been postponed. So it’s okay. There’s time to get back into our grooves. We will get time to train even more. This is an opportunity to work even harder. Personally, I think this is the best time to work on my technique. If you can utilise this time, it’ll be good when we get back to full-time training.
Before the pandemic, what were your plans for this period?
April was supposed to see Asian Championships. That was postponed first. We were thinking about starting training in Japan from May. But right now, none of those plans are working out.
How bored are you, locked up in your room? Are there are any specific exercises you’re doing to keep fit?
It’s definitely boring, but this is necessary. I do workouts inside my room during the morning and evenings, so that’s a way to spend time. You can do upper-body workouts in your room or ones to strengthen your quads. Actually, only lifting cannot be done from your room. A lot of other exercises can be done: squats, push-ups.
Have you had to make any changes to your diet?
There have been changes. Due to the lockdown, I’ve not been able to look after my diet as properly as before. My diet has changed. Before, I used to have a lot of red meat. But you can’t get too much red meat here due to the lockdown. So we’re eating a lot of chicken.
Is the Olympics postponement a good thing for you, or bad?
I think it’s better for me. In fact, that’s the best thing to do for the entire world. We have more time to train. Injured athletes now have enough time to recover. This is an opportunity to rest and then return to training even stronger, once the lockdown is over. I hope I’ll be able to give my best in Tokyo.
But isn’t it difficult to change your plans suddenly after preparing for so long to contest an Olympics in July?
That is there. In fact, we had to change our plans multiple times because of the pandemic. I was supposed to contest in Asian Championships, and that was postponed. So all the plans we made around that event had to be changed. We had plans to start Olympic preparation right after that, so that was also affected. Right now, there are no fixed plans. We will more or less be like this till August. After that, we will work out a plan depending on how things are.