‘Don’t want pregnancy to be seen as a disease’: Pregnant cop on lifting 145 kgs at national championship

“Come on, Soni!” — the cheers rent the air. The constable, who took up powerlifting in 2023, proved that strength just isn’t physical.

Back in May, she was lacing up her shoes for a gym session when she found out that she was pregnant. Her husband thought the pregnancy would mean a break from training, but Sonika had other plans.

“I don’t want pregnancy to be taken as a disease or something that stops women from doing something. It is normal and I wanted to set an example. Throughout my pregnancy I lifted weights and geared up myself for the championship. I did not want to give up just because I was pregnant,” Sonika told The Indian Express. She ended up winning the bronze medal in the championship and continues to gym and lift weights even now.

In all, in her powerlifting category, she first did squats with 125kgs, bench pressed 80 kgs and then came the deadlift. She was initially supposed to lift 135 kgs but she was aware that she might not win the medal so she lifted 145 kgs instead.

During an internet search earlier, she had found out that no woman had done this before. This motivated her further. “I researched and saw that in the world of powerlifting, a woman named Lucie Martins had done this during her pregnancy in a competition. I immediately reached out to her on instagram to take some tips. She told me we must squeeze our belly in and then do the lift as we normally do. I practiced that and even implemented it,” she said.

Initially, when she had gone for the championship she wore loose clothes. Many thought it was due to her changing her weight category. When she did the bench press, her husband came to help her get up. The spectators did not realise why.

“Since I was pregnant I couldn’t get up straight on my own… so my husband helped. Even then some people did not realise. During lifts, one needs to wear a belt but I could not owing to my belly size. Once everyone was fully aware, it felt great. Women walked up to me, participants from other police forces came up to me and congratulated me. They all clicked pictures,” Sonika said.

Sonika is a 2014 batch officer and currently posted at the community policing cell. Before this, she was also a beat officer in Majnu ka Tila area and helped curb the drug menace. Her contribution was acknowledged by the then Delhi Police chief in 2022. She was also felicitated by Union Minister Smriti Irani on Women’s Day.

Sonika had her first child in 2017. Her husband Ankur Bana works at a private firm. Throughout her training period, she regularly met her gynaecologist and even after the championship consulted her to ensure she was not having any blindspots.

She was always drawn to fitness and sports. She initially started playing kabaddi and was a part of the Delhi Police team as well. She said she started gyming just to lose weight and soon realised her fondness for weights — the weights many lifted in championships, she was already doing it at the gym.

In 2023, August she bagged her first gold medal at the Delhi State Powerlifting Championship. There has been no looking back since then.

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