Shattering stereotypes, octogenarian woman lifts weights to inspire others
She stole the show by making a clean lift to grab the fifth spot in her maiden stage show by competing among 18 contestants, all less than 30 years of age.
Kittammal participating in the power lifting competition
COIMBATORE: Defying her age to set an inspiration for others to follow, eighty two year old V Kittammal from Coimbatore has won laurels in the power lifting competition.
Claps rent the air, as the bespectacled woman with a grey hair, clad in a ‘saree’ comes to lift the 50 kilogram weight at the open category for women in ‘Strong Man of South India’ contest held in Kuniamuthur near Coimbatore, last week. She stole the show by making a clean lift to grab the fifth spot in her maiden stage show by competing among 18 contestants, all less than 30 years of age.
V Kittammal
“I developed love for power lifting on seeing my school going grandson, Rohith, 16 training at home in Pollachi. Every day, after he left to school, I tried myself with weights for half an hour over the last two months. I began with five kilograms and gradually increased weights,” said Kittammal, wife of Venkatraman, a retired health department staff.
On seeing the ‘paatis’ desire for weightlifting, her elder grandson S Rithik, 23, a gold medalist in the national championship, organised by the Indian Power lifting Federation in Gujarat in February this year, took her to a gym in Palladam for training.
“I used to visit the gym in Palladam along with my grandson every weekend to learn the nuances of weight lifting and improved on my techniques. Since the start, I never felt any pain due to lifting weights because of my healthy food habits,” said the paati.
Her diet comprise of porridge made of kambu (pearl millet), ragi (finger millet), ‘sathumaavu kanji’ (multi grain porridge), eggs, soups and liberal servings of boiled vegetables, dates, soaked nuts, besides rice items.
“I have been on a healthy food even before beginning to train on power lifting. I have never gone to a doctor as I live an active lifestyle by doing farm work. Still, I carry upto 30 kudams (pots) of water,” the octogenarian said.
With her commendable feat, Kittammal aims to be an inspiration for other women to break the shackles to achieve in life. “I am determined to continue my training more rigorously as per the advice of my gym master and participate in competitions. Age should never be a deterrent for achieving in life,” she said.