Rajinder Singh Rahelu (born 22 July 1973) is an Indian

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

powerlifter Powerlifting is a competitive strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight singl ...

. He won a bronze medal at the

2004 Summer Paralympics The 2004 Summer Paralympics (), the 12th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Athens, Greece, from 17 to 28 September ...

in the 56 kg category. He represented India at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, finishing fifth in the final standings.

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

recipient, Rahelu, represented India at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom; he failed in all his three attempts at .

Personal life

Rahelu was born on 22 July 1973 in Mehsampur village, Jalandhar district, Punjab, in a poor Kashyap rajput family. He is the youngest of five siblings, with two older brothers and two older sisters. His father, Rattan Singh, worked as a

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, and his mother Gurdial Kaur was a maid. Rahelu has infantile paralysis. He contracted polio when he was eight months old. He is married to Jaswinder Kaur and has two daughters named Ridhima and Ravneet.

Powerlifting

After finishing higher secondary education, Rahelu chose not to continue his education further. He decided to pursue powerlifting following encouragement from his friend Surinder Singh Rana, who himself is a powerlifter. Captain Piara Singh VSM(Vashisht Seva Medalist) was his coach in 1996. He lifted 70 kg on his first

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

attempt and within six months he was able to lift 115 kg. He won his first ever title in powerlifting in 1997 at the Punjab Open Meet. In August 1998, he won National Powerlifting Championship held at Chhindwada in Madhya Pradesh. Rahelu competed in the 56 kg category at the

in Athens, Greece. He finished fourth in the final standings after lifting a total weight of 157.5 kg. However, this position was later upgraded to a third-place after

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

lifter Youseff Younes Cheikh, bronze medallist of the event, was disqualified due to doping. In doing so, he won the first ever medal for India in the powerlifting event of the Paralympics. In 2006, he was conferred by the

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award. Rahelu was one of the two Indian competitors at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

. He participated in the powerlifting event. He managed to lift a total load of 170 kg putting him at position fifth, behind

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Mariusz Tomczyk, out of thirteen contenders in the final. Rahelu won silver in

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, with a total lift of 185 kg.

Occupation

Working as Weightlifting (Para Powerlifting) Coach in Sports Authority of India at NSWC Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

References

External links

Profile
at london2012.com
Profile
at ipc.infostradasports.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh Rahelu, Rajinder 1973 births Living people Indian powerlifters Paralympic powerlifters for India Powerlifters at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic bronze medalists for India People from Jalandhar district Weightlifters from Punjab, India Les Autres-category Paralympic competitors Recipients of the Arjuna Award Powerlifters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Powerlifters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Jalandhar Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in powerlifting Paralympic medalists in powerlifting Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games

Personal life

Powerlifting

Occupation

See also

References

External links