The opportunity to represent her country in a sport that she’s passionate about has given her a lift like never before.
Amelia Krishna, 30, will travel to New Zealand next month with a team of South African powerlifters to compete in the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships.
When engaged in the sport’s three lifting disciplines – squats, bench presses and deadlifts – she’s never short of grit, and when things don’t go her way off-stage, Krishna, a schoolteacher, has been able to muster the required tenacity to stay in the game.
Krishna made her 2022 mission to achieve powerlifting Protea colours.
To stand a chance, she needed to make the SA National Championships, which were held in Johannesburg in March, but she first had to achieve well in a provincial event to qualify for the nationals.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Durban's Krishna had participated in various minor local competitions and enjoyed some successes.
Affiliating with the SA Powerlifting Federation was a big step up for her, but necessary to achieve her goal.
With KwaZulu-Natal having no formal powerlifting structures, Krishna travelled to Gauteng for their national championship qualifying event in January, and failed.
She refused to give up and attended the Free State’s qualifying event in February, but she had to take out a loan to fund her road trip and purchase the required gear for top-level performances.
The outlay proved worthwhile.
Competing in the under 63kg weight category, Krishna was named the best lifter in the Free State, having successfully completed a 160kg deadlift.
She managed 130kg in the squats section and bench pressed more than 50kg.
At the nationals, Krishna was able to replicate those lifts and got placed among the top four powerlifters and secured her place for New Zealand.
“I am proud to have been chosen to represent my country, which has only come through sheer determination and hard work,” said the self-coached Krishna.
Her performance at the nationals also created other opportunities, including a shot at September’s African championship in Morocco, which she turned down.
“Funding prevented me from going to Morocco. I chose the Commonwealth Championship. It was a year-end event that would give me more time to prepare, save money and land some sponsors for the trip”, Krishna reasoned.
Before she started teaching at Ridge Park College, she was a personal trainer, someone who frequented the gym, lifting heavy weights.
“I have gone through many hardships in life. Being at the gym was my outlet for some of my pain.
“I started small by deadlifting some heavy weights and realised I had potential.”
Krishna followed other powerlifters on social media and compared herself to them, realising: “I stood a chance at doing well with this sport.”
Krishna said she was always a soft and emotional person and like most women, she still cried when things went wrong.
However, powerlifting has made her “harder, stronger and more confident about who I am”.
“I never took up powerlifting to look pretty, because it is not an attractive sport. At competitions I look puffed up. Nobody compliments you on your looks after you’ve lifted 160kg.
”If I look big and bulky, feminine or not, it is my journey. I am off to New Zealand to represent my country.”
Krishna said her partner was not a powerlifter or someone who works out in the gym, but is supportive and invested time cheering her on at competitions.
She also appreciates the girls at Ridge Park who took it upon themselves to stage fund-raisers to support her trip.
Heather Leighton, the vice-president of the SA Powerlifting Federation, said Krishna was among a group of 20, across age groups, who would be travelling to New Zealand.
“We are proud of her (Krishna) and the others and believe they will fare well,” said Leighton.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE