INDIA. Mumbai: Bhavna Tokekar, wife of a serving Group Captain in the Indian Air Force (IAF), who is participating in the World Powerlifting Championship being held at Manchester in the UK has broken four World records by now.
Bhavna is participating as a Master III athlete (age 50-54) in the under 75kg weight category in Full Powerlifting and Bench Press events being held till September 10, Defence officials stated.
She secured the top spot in her category and made 4 world records by breaking the previous ones. She squatted with 102.5 kgs and broke the previous record of 90kgs. She did a Benchpress of 80kgs, nearly double the previous record of 40 kgs.
She did a Deadlift with 132.5 kgs and broke the previous record of 105 kgs. She made a new world record in a total lift with 315kgs (102.5+80+132.5 kgs). She was trained by the coach Airat Sufianov and Volante Technologies and Tristar Group are her sponsors.
The AWPC World Championships 2022 has been organised in Manchester, the UK under the aegis of the British Powerlifting Union since Sept 06. It will be on till Sept 10 at the Pendulum Hotel and Conference Centre, Sackville Street, Manchester.
The contests include Full power Raw Men open and master classes, all weight classes, Full power RAW – All Women RAW, All Male Teenage Classes RAW AND Classic RAW, All Male Junior Raw and Classic Raw, Full power Classic Raw All Women age and weight classes. All full-power equipped lifters men and women, All single lifts bench press and deadlift male female, all weight and age class. There are two types of powerlifting: equipped and non-equipped (often referred to as ‘Raw’ powerlifting.)
The 50-year-old Bhavna had won 4 Gold medals at the Open Asian Powerlifting Championships organized by the World Powerlifting Congress (WPC), in Chelyabinsk, Russia.in July 2019. She took part in the ‘Under 67.5 Masters 2’ category (45-50 age group), and it was her first-ever competition.
Bhavna Tokekar (nee Bhavna Bhave), basically hails from Pune and is a mother of two teenagers. She was brought up in Gujarat after her family moved there. She participated in walking, and cycling and also played table tennis at the district level, representing Panchmahal in Gujarat.
She is married to the IAF fighter pilot and Kargil War Hero Group Captain Shreepad Tokekar. He motivated her to pursue her ambitions. She started taking part in weightlifting activities at the age of 41. She was also motivated by IAF bodybuilders to try weightlifting.
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