A 140kg deadlift has turned the 21-year-old Indian powerlifter Keyaa Kunal Banerji into a household name, and the entire internet is going gaga over her skills. She produced the jaw-dropping effort at the 2026 IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships in Sun City, South Africa, where she won a silver medal in the individual deadlift event in the Junior Women’s 47kg category.
Kar’s latest success added to an impressive record despite her young age. At the 2025 National Championship, Banerji recorded an 82.5kg squat, a 47.5kg bench press and a 127.5kg deadlift, taking her total to 257.5kg. She then raised those numbers at the 2026 National Championship, lifting 95kg in the squat, 52.5kg in the bench press and 140kg in the deadlift, finishing with a 287.5kg total. A Class XII student from Jalpaiguri, she had already made her mark at the domestic level by winning the National Powerlifting Championship in 2024 and successfully defending the title in 2025. She also won the National Bench Press Championship in Faridabad earlier in 2026.
