Mirabai Chanu dons Manipuri dress, says ‘Always happy to be in my traditional outfits’

Mirabai Chanu, after securing a silver medal in the Women's 49 kg Weightlifting category at the recently-concluded Tokyo Olympics, has been gaining popularity outside the sports sphere too. Recently, the star athlete took to social media and shared a beautiful picture of herself draped in a traditional Manipuri outfit. 

In the image, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu has donned a Meitei traditional dress consisting of a Phanek Mayek Naibi (means with lines and patterns) which is generally a wrap-around and hand-woven skirt quite similar to the very popular sarong. She is also pulling off an Innaphi i.e. a typical Manipuri shawl either woven or embroidered as that of hers. The celebrated Olympian accessorised the attractive outfit with a neckpiece and finished the look with a simple hairdo. 

"Always happy to be in my traditional outfits," she captioned her picture on Twitter. 

Mirabai Chanu takes sports to greater heights

Chanu has been on a roll ever since clinching a silver medal for India in the women's 49kg weightlifting category at the Tokyo Olympics. In fact, it was she who had opened India's medal tally in the recently-concluded Olympic Games.

The Manipur athlete had already given recognition to Indian weightlifting way before this edition of the quadrennial event.

Finishing the event with a total lift of 202 kg, she has become the first Indian weightlifter to win a silver medal at the Olympic Games. For the unversed, Mirabai Chanu is also a Padma Shri awardee and has been conferred with Khel Ratna award by the Government in 2018 for her contribution to sports.

Before Mirabai's Olympic win 

Mirabai Chanu's notable performances came in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, where she won a silver medal in the women's 48 kg weight class. She then went on to break the game's record en route to the gold medal at the 2018 edition of the competition held in Gold Coast. Her biggest achievement before her present Olympic win was the gold medal that she bagged at World Weightlifting Championships held in Anaheim in 2017. 

Meanwhile, the star weightlifter also met one of India's greatest sportspersons, Sachin Tendulkar, amongst various other sportspersons, delegates, legislators, and celebrities who met her upon her arrival in India on July 27. 

Sharing an image of her arrival, she wrote, "This silver medal is, even more, special because of the love people of India and my state Manipur has shown me. I'm grateful to each and every person who came today to congratulate me and gave me their blessings."