Shwetha Surendran By Express News Service CHENNAI: Already a little winded from climbing three flights of stairs, I stumble into the gym catching Vignesh Hariharan in the middle of his workout session, lifting a kettlebell whilst hardly breaking a sweat. Well, that would be the difference between a normal person and a gold medallist in the World Kettlebell Championship 2019. A sport that is steadily growing in India and up for Olympic consideration in 2020, Kettlebell lifting combines strength and endurance with colour-coded kettlebell weights ranging from 8 kg to 32 kg. Vignesh, who had scored his first competitive gold medal for Kettlebell lifting at the Asia Kettlebell Championships in 2018, came across the activity five years ago through a workshop. Attributing his success in the sport to his coach from Kolkata, Arnav Sarkar, it is a point of astonishment to find out that they train online. Kettlebell lifting combines strength and endurance Attending his first Kettlebell World Championship in Melbourne last month, the rookie from Chennai grabbed gold in the Biathlon event and a silver in the Half Marathon competing with 45 participants from America, Russia and Sri Lanka to name a few. “My main event is the Biathlon which is a two-part event with 10 minutes in each segment. First is the ‘Double arm jerks’ which requires you to lift and hold two 24 kg kettlebells and after a half-hour break, the next 10 minutes is for ‘snatches’ which is a single kettlebell event. I was able to complete a total of 154 repetitions combined and this guaranteed me the first place,” he says. It’s quite apparent that the sport is more than just physical endurance but a test of mental strength as well and the 34-year-old finds his strength in the most unusual of places, in the story of Tamil freedom fighter, Kodi Katha Kumaran. “I always think of his resilience when it came to doing his duty and when my mind begins to give up in the seventh or eighth minute, I immediately think of his journey,” Vignesh admits. With a workout regime that consists a combination of cardio training, resistance and conditioning, you’d be surprised to hear that Vignesh has been a lifelong vegetarian. A certified nutritionist with a strict diet, he is busting myths that proteins from meats are essential for muscle-building. But in a rare moment that we can all relate to, he does confess that after winning that gold medal in Melbourne he went out on an ice-cream binge-fest. Not just a professional athlete, Vignesh also runs The Hammer Gym in Kolathur and takes every opportunity to talk to children at local schools. Once a boy who trained hard to be a professional cricketer, Vignesh is a staunch believer in sports and the importance of failure in character building as a child. “Eat healthy,” he calls after me and as I mentally prep for the long walk down, it seems like the apt end to our chat. Future competitions Talking the talk and walking the walk, Vignesh is currently prepping for the national competition in February and hopes to compete with the infamous Russian Kettlebell lifters in their home turf in a few years.

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