The Iron Lady of India
Thirty-four-year old Nameirapkam Kunjarani Devi is the iron lady of India.
Hailing from Manipur, the bespectacled lifter is rated by the International Weightlifting Federation as one of the greatest 100 lifters of the 20th century.
She is diminutive and shy, but volatile and gigantic among competitors.
On Tuesday, Kunjarani created history in Commonwealth Games by becoming the first winner in the newly-introduced women's weightlifting competition sweeping all the three gold medals in her weight category as Indian lifters began their medal hunt with a rich haul of 11 medals in Manchester.
Kunjarani stole the limelight with a stunning display as she lifted a total of 167.5 kg in the women's 48 kg category.
Kunajarani came back strongly after she was caught in the drug net and was suspended for testing positive last year.
Excluded from the Sydney Olympics squad, 'Kunja' nevertheless lived up to her reputation to bounce back in her own inimitable style.
'Kunja' as she is popularly known in sporting circles, has been a name to reckon with in Indian sports.
An Arjuna Award winner who also won the Rajiv Khel Ratna award, Kunjarani took up sports way back in 1976.
But interestingly she started with football, hockey, Kho-Kho and athletics.
An avid fan of PT Usha, she watched her in the 1982 Asian Games.
Inspired by Usha, Kunjarani accepted her as a role model.
In 1983, she took to powerlifting, giving up other sports and games and left an indelible impression after winning national title in 1983 in 44 kg classification.
Moreover, she did 75 kg in back squat (a new national record); 42.5 in bench press (a new national record) and 95 in dead lift (also a new national record).
But since powerlifting is a non-Olympic sports, she switched to weightlifting two years back and won the national title the same year in New Delhi in 44 kg weight classification.
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