2019 has been a tremendous year when it comes to India's women's athletes and adding a further claim to the statement, Roma Shah has bagged two gold and silver each in the World Raw Powerlifting Championships.
Roma, who hails from Surat won these laurels in the competition held in Moscow. Her brother Abhishek Shah also participated in the competition and was able to win a bronze medal.
Speaking to about her achievement, Roma said that she got inclined towards powerlifting in her college days and she also had to become non-vegetarian in order to gain more power and strength.
"I have been studying computer engineering for four years. In my first year, I used to play different sports, but then I started gravitating towards powerlifting. I have been playing international for three years now," Roma told .
"I was pure vegetarian, but since the sport requires you to be powerful, I started eating non-vegetarian. In the competition, only I was representing India and more than 22 countries took part in the tournament. I had to do cardio there to balance my weight," she added.
Roma's mother Deepa Shah said that she is very proud of her daughter and revealed that Roma decided to join powerlifting as there was no other girl in her college who was willing to take up the sport.
"Roma joined the gym because she wanted to lose weight. She used to do gymming, and she took part in the powerlifting as no girl from her college was doing so. She then participated in national and international competitions. She has worked very hard for this, Roma's mother said.
Roma's gym instructor, Yasan Bhesya shed light on all the difficulties she had to overcome in order to bring laurels for the country.
"We went to the WPRF. The competition this year was the toughest as every time it is played in October. But this time, we had to go in December. The minimum temperature was -6 there and competing in such conditions is difficult for every athlete. Our flight got delayed so we reached just 24 hours before the match. Balancing the weight of Roma was also a challenge," Bhesya said.
"She got us four gold and two silver medals. Being a female, it is tough in the competition. She is very disciplined and dedicated. Her lifestyle is very busy," he added.
( With inputs from ANI )