Rajinder Singh
Rahelu
Rajinder Singh Rahelu was born on 22.07.1973 in Mehsampur Village, Jalandhar Distt., Punjab in a
poor family. His father S. Ratan Singh worked as a Band Master and his mother was a maid. He was only
eight months old when he contracted Polio and became a victim of infantile Paralysis. He studied only upto
Higher Secondary and then decided to persue Power lifting for which he was encouraged by a Power Lifter
Friend Shri Surinder Rana. He started practicing in 1996 and went on progressing in this sphere. He lifted
70 Kg. of his first bench press attempt and within six months he was able to life 115 Kg. He won his first
ever title in powerlifting in 1997 at the Punjab Open Meet. In August 1998, he won National Powerlifting
Championship held in Hyderabad. Rahelu competed in the 56 Kg category at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
in Athens, Greece. He finished fourth in the final standings after lifting a total weight of 157.5Kg. However,
this position was later upgraded to a third place after Syrian lifter Youseff Younes Cheikh, bronze medallist
of the eent, was disqualified due t o doping. In doing so, he won the first ever medal for India in the
powerlifting event of the Paralympics. In 2006, he was conferred by the President of India the Arjuna Award,
India’s second highest sporting award.
Rahelu was one of the two Indian competitors at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He participated in
the powerlifting event. He manged to lift a totl load of 170 Kg. putting him at position fifth, behind Polish
Mariusz. Tmczyk, out of thirteen contenders in the final. Rahelu won silver in 2014 Commonwealth
Games, with a total lift of 185 Kg. S. Rahelu, married to Jaswinder Kaur is living with his family at Jalandhar.
