{"id":28915,"date":"2026-09-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=28915"},"modified":"2026-09-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T00:00:00","slug":"indian-powerlifter-won-silver-medal-at-world-meet-but-says-internet-focused-on-her-looks-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=28915","title":{"rendered":"Indian powerlifter won silver medal at world meet but says internet focused on her looks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">An Indian powerlifter who won a silver medal at a world championship has spoken out after being targeted with online harassment and objectified for her looks, calling the ordeal \u201csexism at its finest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Keyaa Kunal Banerji, 21, showed remarkable strength early in her career at the 2026 IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa, late last month.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Weighing 45.7kg in the Junior Women\u2019s 47kg category, Banerji pulled 140kg in the dead lift, more than three times her body weight, to claim second place in the individual dead lift event and secure a silver medal.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">However, after a video of her performance went viral online, the promising young athlete was forced to navigate unwelcome internet fame as public discussion quickly shifted away from her athletic achievement and towards her physical appearance.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to Indian news agency ANI, Banerji faced cyberbullying, attacks from fake accounts, photo misuse, and thousands of unauthorised AI-altered images generated using her likeness.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cI think it was just sexism at its finest. I don\u2019t think I can put it any other way. The way I was treated, men would never have to face this, like after winning a championship or something like that; a male athlete never has to face something like this,\u201d Banerji said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/amp.scmp.com\/sport\/other-sport\/article\/3366943\/indian-powerlifter-won-silver-medal-world-meet-says-internet-focused-her-looks\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Indian powerlifter who won a silver medal at a world championship has spoken out after being targeted with online harassment and objectified for her looks, calling the ordeal \u201csexism at its finest\u201d. Keyaa Kunal Banerji, 21, showed remarkable strength early in her career at the 2026 IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1411,"featured_media":28887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Indian powerlifter won silver medal at world meet but says internet focused on her looks - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=28915\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indian powerlifter won silver medal at world meet but says internet focused on her looks - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Indian powerlifter who won a silver medal at a world championship has spoken out after being targeted with online harassment and objectified for her looks, calling the ordeal \u201csexism at its finest\u201d. 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