Olympian Soniya Chanu accorded warm welcome
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, August 11, 2012:
The lone woman lifter who represent India in the London Olympics in Weightlifting Ngangbam Soniya Chanu was accorded a warm welcome with local peoples and officials of Manipur Weightlifting Association greeting her at the Tulihal Airport, Imphal today.
Ngangbam Soniya Chanu who is ranked 5 in international ranking failed to win a medal in the London Games by ending at the 7th position.
As soon as she arrived at the Tulihal Airport, she told reporters that she did not feel much disappointed for not winning any medal in the Olympics.
For Soniya, her participation in the Olympic itself is a a big achievement.
She also disclosed that she will retire from sports after participating in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 for the last time.
She said that mistakes in two of her lifts, differences in weather and food habits were the cause of her poor performances and lost of medal in the Olympics.
She further said that Olympics has its own nature of competition which is quite different from other championships.
In Olympics, the quest for a medal is much stronger and higher than other championships which makes it a difficult task to win medals in the Olympics.
All her disappointments for not winning a medal have vanished seeing the warm welcome and greeting she get from the people of the state, she added.
Later she was escorted to her home by the huge crowd.
Soniya Chanu who is now serving as an Inspector in the Uttar Pradesh Police was born in 1980 and has been competiting in different national and international championships since 2000.All her hard work and good performances paid finally as she was selected by the Weightlifting Federation of India to represent India in the London Olympics for the single slot India get in women's category.