On the outside, Arshia Goswami is a regular 8-year-old girl. She loves to paint, watch movies and television series on OTT platforms, and is a bundle of joy who is inquisitive and fascinated by new things every now and then. But from the inside, she can lift more than twice her body weight.
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Her father, Avnish Goswami, runs a gym at Sector-25, Panchkula in Haryana. During the lockdown, when the entire world was restricted at home, her father sneaked in weights inside their home to be able to workout with his wife. It was when they used to workout together that Arshia joined them too. She used to squat, do pushups, and pull-ups and could hold planks for longer than a minute.
When the lockdown restrictions were lifted, Arshia’s father took her to the gym and added tiny weights to her workout routine. Thus started Arshia’s weightlifting journey.
“I imported a separate set of barbells for her. Since the standard 20kg barbell was too heavy for her, I got that 5kg rod. Then I got 1/2kg and 1kg plates. These are fraction plates used by weightlifters. Then we got a platform made for her,” her father said.
He browsed innumerable videos on YouTube and got in touch with trainers online in order to give Arshia the best help she needed. Avnish’s dream is to see her compete at the Olympics.
Today, Arshia Goswami can lift more than twice her weight. Her weight is 25 kg but her personal best deadlift yet is 75 kg which is a record. Her personal best snatch is 25 kg, reported Sportstar.
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“Weights are my toys,” Arshia says.
Her Instagram account has over 665K followers and she receives sponsorships from brands such as MuscleBlaze and Jerai Fitness which are two of India’s popular fitness brands.
“At times, I feel we should show her talent a bit more. But there is barely any competition at her age. So, we’ll continue working. By the time she is 12-13 and old enough to compete, she’ll have a proper base and will be better than most kids her age,” Avnish said.
Seems like we have an upcoming sports star here!