Against all odds: Akshata punches much above her weight  

BELAGAVI:  Coming from a small village, Halaga, in Belagavi taluk, she faced near-insurmountable odds to take up weightlifting as a passion and reach new heights in the sport. But 22-year-old Akshata Baswant Kamati’s sheer willpower and her family’s support have helped her achieve some outstanding performances at national-level competitions.

Only on Saturday, she bagged gold at the National Weightlifting Championship at Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu in the 87 kg weight group in the snatch and clean and jerk categories. In fact, at Khelo India held in Pune, she set a record by lifting 176 kg in the 76 kg category and won gold at the junior national championship in the 81 kg category at the 32nd Women Junior National Weightlifting Championships at Bodh Gaya in Bihar.

Akash Kamati, her elder brother, said Akshata was in eighth standard at Sharada Girls High School in Halaga when the school started special coaching classes for weightlifting and she got fascinated by it. Initially, a few villagers told the family that weightlifting was not a sport for a girl. She would soon prove them wrong. When she was in tenth standard, she won gold at a national level competition, bringing laurels to the village and making villagers proud, he said.

Her father, Baswant, said his family owns 10 guntas of land which is divided among three brothers. Though the government looks after Akshata’s stay, coaching and food, her other expenses, including those needed for her special diet, proteins and incidentals, run up to over Rs 25,000 per month.