Indian powerlifting duo Mukesh Singh Gehlot (125kg Raw) and Gaurav Sharma (140 kg + Raw) won their respective gold medals at the World Powerlifting Championship held here at Coventry, England.
Along with them Vaibhav Rana (125kg Raw) and Kanwardeep Singh (110kg Raw) took away the silver medals taking India's medal tally to a total of four on the very opening day of the three-day event.
Also read: India shines at World Powerlifting Championship
Training under the legendary Dronacharya Bhupender Dhawan, Mukesh became the first Indian to win two world championships. He won two gold medals in the British Open last year. A total of 26 countries including Holland, England, Austria, Russia, Georgia, Siberia, Spain, Ireland, Germany and Scotland participated in the earlier championship, which was held from November 14 to 16. Mukesh is also a four-time Mr. India and the winner of South Asia and Asia Body Building championships.
Watch him talk about his profession in this interview with Tarun Gill:
A resident of Karola, Rajasthan,the Indian powerlifter had a tough childhood with his mother passing away in 1993. Staying with his father, who barely manages to feed a family of five being just a farmer, Mukesh had to go through a lot of hardships to come out as a winner.
Also read: Powerlifter Rajinder Rahelu wins silver for India at Glasgow CWG
Mukesh had spoken to Indian Bodybuilding and stated, "My strong support has been my elder brother, Kulweer Singh. He helped me in every way possible. He used to give me money that I needed for my gym and diet. Not just financial, he was also my moral support. I can never thank him enough. Another person I want to mention is my wife. When I got married I was on a job. Then I decided to quit it and do full-time bodybuilding. She supported me through everything. She told me to do what I feel is right and stood by me. Even till date, she takes care of my diet. She prepares all my meals. She is my strength."
Gaurav Sharma won gold at the Commonwealth Championship in New Zealand. Kanwardeep had scored silver in the last edition as well and has thus repeated his performance. Gehlot, who earlier won gold in 2013, thus became world champion for the second time late Wednesday night.
