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The 21-year-old gained recognition after lifting 140kg in the deadlift in the Junior Women\u2019s 47kg category at the championships held in Sun City, South Africa. This lift was more than three times her competition bodyweight of 45.70kg and secured her a silver medal in the individual deadlift event.<\/p>\n
However, the social media attention following her achievement quickly turned uncomfortable, with Banerji facing fake accounts, inappropriate use of her images and thousands of unauthorised AI-generated manipulated images featuring her likeness.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the experience, Banerji said the sudden attention was challenging but expressed gratitude for the opportunity to discuss her sporting journey. \u201cIn fact, I\u2019m really grateful for the opportunity to be talking to news channels because it gives me the opportunity to actually talk about my passion for the sport and my journey progressing my numbers, etc. So, I\u2019m over it. I\u2019m definitely over it. But it was a little bit hard in the middle,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On the field, Banerji delivered a performance that established her among India\u2019s promising young powerlifters. Along with her 140kg deadlift, she recorded a 90kg squat and a 50kg bench press for a total of 280kg, finishing fifth overall in the Junior Women\u2019s 47kg category.<\/p>\n
France\u2019s Ines Herbaux won the deadlift gold with a 165kg lift, while Ireland\u2019s Blathnaid O\u2019Dwyer also lifted 140kg. Banerji therefore finished second in the individual deadlift standings.<\/p>\n
Banerji\u2019s journey into powerlifting began without initial plans of competing professionally. She started training at a gym for personal fulfilment and health before being introduced to the sport by a friend who was a world-level powerlifting coach and had won a gold medal for India.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was first starting out, I just started going to the gym for a sense of personal fulfilment and just taking care of my health, etc. But I had a friend who was a powerlifting coach and was also competing at a world level. He has also won a gold medal for the country. So, I felt extremely inspired and felt very curious about how this works,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her curiosity eventually developed into competitive ambition as her numbers improved across the squat, bench press and deadlift.<\/p>\n
Banerji also emphasised the technical demands of powerlifting, noting that competing requires more than the ability to lift heavy weights. \u201cThere are rules, making sure that your lift matches the commands of the referee, making sure that once you\u2019ve picked up, for instance, once you\u2019ve completed your deadlift, you can\u2019t just leave the bar. You can only put it down once the referee asks you to put it down. So, there are a lot of, it\u2019s a very technical sport. There are a lot of things that go into it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Despite the unwanted attention, Banerji remains focused on the sport that has had a significant impact on her life. \u201cMy sport is something that really helped me in my life. During my college times, I used to look forward to training. Sometimes I would have to train at night, sometimes I would have to skip classes to train, but it\u2019s something that never really bothered me. It\u2019s always something I really enjoyed,\u201d the powerlifter said.<\/p>\n
Banerji recently graduated from Ashoka University with a BSc in Psychology and is considering pursuing an MBA, but her current focus remains on advancing her powerlifting career following a landmark international campaign.<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/div>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indian powerlifter Keyaa Kunal Banerji has revealed the online harassment and sexualisation she encountered following her performance at the 2026 IPF World Sub-Junior & Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships, describing the treatment as a clear example of sexism. \u201cI think it was just sexism at its finest. I don\u2019t think I can put it any other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1036,"featured_media":28622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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