VIJAYAWADA: For 17-year-old Bollu Likitha, a trip to the gym that began as a fitness routine eventually turned into a journey to the Commonwealth podium. A few years ago, she and her sister joined a gym to lose weight and get fitter. Likitha, who hailed from Guntur, had no idea then that she would take up a sport that would change the direction of her life.
At the gym, she watched senior athletes training for weightlifting competitions. Their lifts caught her attention, and soon she wanted to compete too.
She approached her coach and expressed her desire to compete. Her sister eventually stopped going to the gym, but Likitha continued.
Her mother, Chaitanya, was initially unsure about the idea. “I told her, ‘No, how will you manage it? It is a hard sport.’ But she was persistent. She told me, ‘I can do it.’ When I saw that confidence in her, I said yes,” Chaitanya said.
Likitha’s first competition gave that confidence its reward. She won medals and found herself wanting to see what she could do next.
“That was my fire to continue the sport. I knew there was no going back,” she said.
After which the 76-kg sub-junior went on to win gold at four Andhra Pradesh State Classic and Equipped Powerlifting Championships in 2025 and 2026. She followed those victories with a bronze at the National Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championship and silver at the National Equipped Powerlifting Championship in Hyderabad.
