Ongole: An 18-year-old student from Prakasam district, Gunti Shakthidhara Srichandra, is making a name in powerlifting. Collector P Raja Babu has appreciated the athlete, who won many medals at state and national levels on Thursday.
Srichandra is a first-year engineering student at Pace Institute of Technology and Sciences in Ongole. Powerlifting runs in their family. Srichandra’s grandfather, Gunti Chandrasekhar, started a physical education college in Ongole in 1959. His father, Bhakthadhruvudu, is now a national-level powerlifting referee and works as a home guard in the police department. Hundreds of his father’s trainees have got government jobs under the sports quota. His aunt Rajarajeswari won medals at national and international levels, and now works as the District Sports Development Officer. His great-grandfather, Gunti Papaiah, was a freedom fighter who was jailed in Sabarmati.
Srichandra won gold medals at Tenali, Chillakallu, Mangalagiri, Krishna Lanka and Gudivada between 2023 and 2025. He also won gold in the bench press event at Ongole. In 2026, he won state-level gold at Vizianagaram and Jaggaiahpet. He won bronze at the South Indian meet in Bengaluru and at the national championship in Hyderabad. Recently, he won gold at the South India Championship in Kerala.
Srichandra’s mother, Jyothi, an advocate, and his father, Bhaktadhruvudu, said the family is taking steps to help the son become a Commonwealth and World champion.
