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Worth their weight in gold
PHOTO: K. ANANTHAN
PROUD MOMENT (from left) Sri Hari, S. Nageshwaran and S. Thiagarajan
The Manchester of the South has not only produced racers and rally drivers but also champion powerlifters. Sadly, the efforts of the iron men, unlike the motor sport stars, have gone largely unnoticed. A classic case is the performance of our powerlifters in the South India (senior, junior and sub-junior) powerlifting championship at Hyderabad last week. The city had fielded four lifters for the championship and all of them returned home with a medal apiece.
N. Nageswaran, who takes care of an exclusive golf showroom in the city, struck gold in the 100-kg category for seniors. He totalled 750kgs (squat-292.5kgs, bench-170kgs & dead lift-287.5kgs) for the top honour. Born into a family of bodybuilders and powerlifters, the 22-year-old found things going his way in the South India championship. Of course, he did face a stiff test in the final run-up from his Tamil Nadu mate, Wilson, who competed in the same category. However, the Coimbatorean kept his cool and outclassed Wilson by a good 80-kg margin.
"I managed to do that mainly because I had trained hard before the championship," says Nageswaran. How about special diets? "I have been taking protein powder, eight eggs (white yolk) and one kilogram of grapes every day besides non-vegetarian food," he says. "However, this time around due to the `avian flu' scare I had to cut short on the chicken delicacies," he adds. Nageswaran's sole aim is to win an international medal. "I have been powerlifting for the past five years and working on the ground exercises for the last seven years. With a bit of extra effort over the years, I feel I should be able to achieve that." If Nageswaran worked his magic in the senior category, S. Thiagarajan did the same in the junior class. The 23-year-old says he was up against an international powerlifter Tippu Sultan from Karnataka. "I was year. I took to the sport for the fun of it. Now, it has become a passion for me. I am not going to stop it till I get an international medal for my country, which I aim to achieve in three years from now."
The three share a fine understanding and have been working for years together. Together they have been enjoying every strenuous hour at the gymnasium.
RAYAN ROZARIO
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