Two Mangalore girls for Asian Powerlifting Championships

Both are from Shree Gokarnanatheshwara College here. They will attend the training camp later this month . Both were selected at the trials held in Himachal Pradesh in March.

Ms. Amitha is the first from her Kudumbur village near Baikampady to compete in an international championship. She said that her family encouraged her to learn wrestling and powerlifting. She was in two minds whether to choose wrestling or powerlifting. “I simply cannot understand the techniques of wrestling, but it was not so with powerlifting. I know how to do things with powerlifting,” Ms. Amitha said. She is pursuing a degree in Arts. Ms. Amitha trains in the 52-kg weight category.

She said that she wanted to give up her studies after completing her pre-university course, but one of her coaches convinced her to continue it along with powerlifting, she said.

Ms. Deepa, a B.Com student, said it was her coaches in the college who encouraged her to learn the sport. She also tried wrestling and even won a contest in Mysore. However, she said that she was better in powerlifting, as indicated by a number of competitions that she won. “I won more prizes in powerlifting, so I stuck to this,” Ms. Deepa said. She has won the first prize in the 47-kg category in the national powerlifting championship in Himachal Pradesh organised by the Indian Powerlifting Federation between March 25 and April 2. She also won the second prize in the national championship in Lucknow between March 1 and 5.

“I like accounting, but I have not given much thought to what I will do after I complete my degree,” Ms. Deepa said. Ms. Deepa said her parents were supportive .