Playing with iron,dodging lead

Sandeep remembers the incident clearly. “It was a Saturday night,and usually it starts getting quiet,because everyone has gone drinking. Suddenly two guys in hoodies and masks came in,pulled out handguns and asked me to open the cash register. They hit me with the gun and shot at me once. I ducked for cover but hit the counter. They took the money,and my cell phone,and only then could I call the police,” recalls Sandeep.

It wasn’t the robbery that left the 6’1”,122 kg Sandeep shaken. He had been in the USA for four years and,in that time,had been robbed seven times. Camden County in New Jersey,where the gas station was located,is one of the most crime-prone areas in the United States. Each of the seven robberies were at gunpoint,but until that last incident no one had shot at him.

The Punjabi Bagh based powerlifter who had competed nationally,and even finished 8th at the 2006 World Championships in Las Vegas,had originally gone to the USA to work at a couple of gas stations owned by his uncle. “I went there because of the money,but I was working 90-hour weeks. I was staying alone and away from my parents. In India I would work out for three hours at a stretch but in USA I would maybe gym for a half hour if lucky on some days. That incident was a wake-up call,” says Sandeep.

“I told my uncle,sorry,I can’t take this any more,and returned to India,” he says. More than the robbery,what hurt Sandeep was the doctor’s diagnosis that the fall he had suffered had hurt his spine and that he shouldn’t lift heavy weights again.

“Powerlifting is my passion. It is a form of stress relief for me. When I train,I block out anything that may be troubling me. Other people turn to drugs or drink or sex,but I only lift weights. I listened to the doctor in USA and for nearly a year I completely lost touch,but once I came to India,a month back,I began training again. This competition was not about training competitively . It was simply muscle memory that helped me lift the weight I did,” says Sandeep. He hopes that in time he can slowly rebuild his fitness and once again get back to lifting the 625kg totals he once managed.

Sandeep says he is not worried whether his passion for powerlifting will injure him further. “Some people ask me why I don’t play cricket or football. I tell them you play cricket I play with iron,” he says.