ahmedabad on february 4 this year 10yearold powerlifter kanak gurjar who had smashed her way to a gold medal in deadlift at the powerlifting meet in florida last year underwent endoscopic adenoidectomy and tonsil resection to treat enlarged adenoid which had hampered her breathing with little time for recovery post surgery and no practice ahead of the amateur world powerlifting congress awpc powerlifting championship 2023 in egypts hurghada kanak had little hopes of lifting the barbell let alone win a medalleaving aside her physical travails and lack of training kanak however stunned the powerlifting field in egypt on march 9 by winning a gold medal in 44 kg category the 10yearold who weighs 38 kg lifted a total of 1325 kg comprising squat of 50 kg benchpress of 20 kg and deadlift of 625 kg she competed in below 11 years categoryunable to hold back her elation after winning the medal the 10yearold said i feel proud to represent india and win a gold medal for the country this event was much better than the florida meet of last year because i competed in full powerlifting and not in an individual event and bagged a medal the pain she was under after the surgery left kanak with only time for recovery and meant she had to participate at the meet in hurghada with very little practice dr minesh khatri who operated on her told toi she tolerated the pain very well she was quite good and stubborn adenoiditis and tonsils compromise immunity and take a heavy toll on practice and competition of sportspersons i am happy for kanak she showed immense resilience narrating her postsurgery experience kanak states i was under a lot of pain after the surgery i rested to recover completely this however left me little time for practice or training i didnt lift any weights and undertook very light training ahead of the competition in egypt to win a medal and that too gold without much training gives me a lot of satisfactionher father inder gurjar who is also a powerlifter said she celebrated her feat by doing scuba diving in hurghada for which she learnt swimming prior to her surgery at the florida meet in november last year kanak had won a gold medal by undertaking a deadlift of 60kgpowerlifting a nonolympic sport is a strength sport comprising squat bench press and deadlift