Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi Biography

Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi is a famous Indian weightlifter was born on March 1, 1968 in Imphal, Manipur. She started participating in sports right from her schooldays in Imphal’s Sindam Sinshang Resident High School and went on to complete her graduation from the Maharaja Bodha Chandra College in Imphal.

Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi broke two National Records in Trivandrum in 1987 and went on to win three silver medals in the World Women’s Weightlifting Championship in Manchester in 1989. She also secured bronze medals at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990 and the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994. Continuing her winning spree, she won the Gold Medal in the Commonwealth Championships in Nauru in 1995 in the 48-kilogram category, besides winning one silver and two bronze medals in the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Shanghai in 1989, three Silver Medals in the 1991 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Indonesia and two Gold and one Bronze medal in the 46-kilogram category in the Asian Weightlifting Championship in 1995 in South Korea.

Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi was suspended for six months after testing positive for anabolic steroids in 2001. A recipient of Arjuna award in 1990, she was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996 and in the same year she won the K.K.Birla Sports award. Nameirakpam Kunjarani Devi claimed the gold medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne in the 48 kg category with a Games record. Kunjarani holds the rank of an Assistant Commandant in the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF).