Haridwar City based power puffed woman Sangeeta Rana has been recently conferred ‘Tilu Rauteli Award’ by the Government of Uttarakhand, in recognition of her extraordinary contribution in the field of powerlifting. Every year, the Government of Uttarakhand gives an award in the name of Veerbala Tilu Rauteli, to women who have done remarkable work in various fields. Sangeeta is all set to go to Japan for the international powerlifting championship.
The intensity with which Sangeeta has been pursuing her sports with hard work, strenuous practice and dedication was proved during the World Powerlifting Championship held in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 2023, where she won three gold medals in all her three events at stake -bench press, full powerlifting and deadlift, in 69 kg weight category. She thus became the first woman powerlifter from Uttarakhand to achieve this grand success.
Then came the NPA World Powerlifting Championship held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in October, 2023 and Sangeeta won two gold medals in both the events available to her. In January 2024, she won the overall trophy in the Asian Championship in Dehradun winning the title of ‘Strong Woman of Asia’. She also won a Gold Medal along with Deadlift Trophy and Overall Championship Trophy in Pro League Asian Championship, 2024 held in New Delhi.
Born in a farmer family in a village near Saharanpur, Sangeeta moved to Haridwar in 2006 after her marriage with Mukesh Rana. A mother of two sons, Sangeeta is managing her dual duties of a mother and a powerlifter. “At times it is very challenging because I have to do stretching and muscle strengthening practice for at least three hours daily. My husband is very supportive and he is helping me achieve my goals for the country,” says Sangeeta.
Her interest in strong games was developed owing to her father Sukhpal Singh who was a wrestler and had successfully competed in village akharas reaching upto national level in wrestling matches. The turning point came in her life, when she felt herself overweight and joined a local gymnasium in 2016. After watching some of the trainees practicing Powerlifting on a day of her visit, Sangeeta asked her trainer whether she too can test her hands and skill over that game. With regular practice, she prepared herself for a Powerlifting competition amongst Gym trainees after two years and clinched the Winner Trophy. That was the beginning of the success story and from that day she never looked back and she was turned from a housewife to an International Powerlifter.