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Powerlifter Nairanjan Singh aiming for gold at 2021 North American and C’bean C/ship
By Zaheer Mohamed
Nairanjan Singh displays one of his accolades.
Nairanjan Singh during a bench press.
Veteran overseas based Guyanese powerlifter Nairanjan Singh will be looking to add to his extensive, exceptional, extended trophy cabinet should the North American and Caribbean powerlifting championship which is tentatively set for August next in Miami comes off.
Singh told Kaieteur Sport that he is now preparing for the competition and is confident of winning gold for Guyana. Born at Lilliendaal, Greater Georgetown, Singh celebrated his 75th birth anniversary on October 20 last in Maryland, USA where he now resides.
The covid 19 pandemic forced him to miss training at the gym for a few months, but Singh is now back at the LA Fitness gym training four times a week. “I was doing some light training at home during the closure of the gym, but I am happy to be back there preparing for the championship,” he posited.Singh has done Guyana proud on numerous occasions and has also represented Maryland and the United States. He developed a passion for weight training at a tender age and started out with weightlifting at Kevil Daly gym at Pike Street/Railway line, Kitty at the age of 15 with the likes of Cecil Moore, Donald Robinson and Albert Baker.
Nairanjan Singh performing a dead lift.
Singh bagged his first title at weightlifting when he won the bantamweight class at Inter Estate championship at Better Hope community centre in 1964. The following year he took gold in the novices category at the Booker Staff Sports Club in Kingston. He also competed in the intermediate competition where he placed second the said year. Due to several challenges, Singh quit competing at weightlifting and took up powerlifting.
He tasted success in his first outing in the sport which came in 1992 at the Masters Nationals powerlifting tournament at St. Stanislaus College. Representing Kingsrow barbell club, under the guidance of Claude Charles, he squatted 374lbs, bench pressed 264lbs and dead lifted 455 lbs to take gold at the age of 47. He then migrated to the USA where he continued to train and compete.
Singh was impressive in the USA, winning the Maryland State championship from 1994 to 1997.
In 1997, Singh competed in his first international competition; representing Maryland, he won silver at the Masters World in Las Vegas after he bench pressed 281lbs, squatted 392 lbs and dead lifted 447 3/4 lbs.
The following year, he took the runner up spot at the USA Masters Nationals which was held in Ohio; he benched pressed 286lbs, squatted 392lbs and dead lifted 454lbs.
Singh turned in a splendid performance to win the Maryland bench press championship in 1999 where he set a record at the age of 59 with 298lbs which still stands.
His impressive run continued overseas and in 2000 he bench pressed 281lbs, squatted 364lbs and deadlifted 420lbs to bag gold at the USA Masters Nationals at Atlanta, Georgia, representing Maryland. He was subsequently selected to represent the USA at the World Masters Championship in Canada, but did not make the trip for personal reasons.
Singh added yet another gold medal to his collection with victory in the North American and Caribbean championships in 2010 in Guyana, representing USA.
Representing Guyana, Singh placed fifth out of 15 athletes at the Masters World in Texas in 2012. The following year he won gold in the Masters segment at the Pan Am championship which was held at Orlando, Florida, while in 2014 he finished second at the North American and Caribbean championship in the US Virgin Islands. Singh handed Guyana gold at the 2015 Commonwealth championship in Vancoover, Canada and won silver in the South American open bench press championship in 2017. He grabbed gold at the North and South American competitions in Mexico City in 2018 and in Uruguay in 2019.
Singh said that he is happy to be representing Guyana, while sharing that his secret is to train hard with lots of protein and vitamins.
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