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Published on: Nov 04, 2025 12:05 am IST
The IWF has excluded Mirabai Chanu’s 49kg class from the 2028 Olympics, introducing new weight classes for men and women instead.
New Delhi: The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) on Monday ratified the Olympic weight classes for 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with Mirabai Chanu’s 49kg class excluded from the programme. Chanu, 31, won her Tokyo Olympics silver medal in 49kg while her 2025 World Championships silver in Norway came in 48kg.
“Following the encouraging decision taken by the IOC to enlarge the weightlifting programme at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 – where 12 events (six men, six women) will be contested – the IWF selected the bodyweight categories for the upcoming Olympic rendezvous,” it said in a statement.
The new weights for men will be 65kg, 75kg, 85kg, 95kg, 110kg and +110kg while the women will compete in 53kg, 61kg, 69kg, 77kg, 86kg and +86kg. The new categories will come into effect on August 1, 2026 and will be used in all IWF competitions.
“These Olympic bodyweight categories are included in the recently-approved slight change of IWF’s 16 bodyweight categories (eight per gender),” IWF said.
Chanu’s 49kg division, however, will remain in key IWF meets. The new categories were proposed by the IWF Technical Committee and were provisionally approved by the IWF Executive Board in its last meeting in Forde, Norway. The divisions were ratified by IWF’s Athletes Commission.
With three years to go for LA 2028, Chanu still has time to bulk up after the 2026 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. More than making the weight though, her challenge will be to consistently lift in excess of 200kg. The Manipuri lifter failed to lift 200kg at the 2024 Paris Olympics and finished fourth with a total lift of 199kg. China’s Hou Zhihui took gold (206kg). It has been three years since Chanu lifted 200kg or more in competition.
The 53kg was not part of the programme at the Paris Olympics with 59kg being the next higher weight class after 49kg.
