Ragala Venkat Rahul

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ragala Venkat Rahul

• Ragala Venkat Rahul is an Indian weightlifter who booked a ticket for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in June 2022.

• He was born and brought up in Stuartpuram, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

• In the ’90s, his father, who himself is a sportsperson, enrolled Ragala and his brother in a sports school in Hakimpet, Telangana, where they studied till the 3rd standard. Later, his father collected Rs 25 lakh and shifted to Hyderabad along with his family. In an interview, his father talked about the potential of his sons to become accomplished sportspersons and said,
  

  I always believed in the potential of my sons and know that they will win medals in the Commonwealth Games. Though I am a sportsman myself, I never got any encouragement, and that made me determined to train my sons.’’

• Ragala received his training in weightlifting from Telangana State Sports School.

• In 2012, he won his first international medal, a gold, at the Youth Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship, held in Samoa.

• In 2013, he won gold at Asian Youth Games in the 77 kg Men’s weightlifting category.

• In 2014, he won gold at the Asian Youth (YOG Qualification) & Junior Championships in the 77 kg category. In the same year, he won silver at Summer Youth Olympics.

• In 2015, he started working as a ‘ticket collector’ at Secunderabad Railway Station.

• In 2015, 2017, and 2019, he won silver, gold, and silver respectively at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships.

• In 2017, his brother, Kunal Varun, won gold at the Australian Weightlifting Championship in the 77kg category. Kunal has won more than 60 medals in weightlifting, and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu once gifted him a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh.

• In 2018, he won gold at the Commonwealth Games, held in Gold Coast, Australia in the 85kg category; he lifted 338 kg (151 kg +187 kg) to achieve this feat. In an interview, he gave credit to his parents and his coach for this achievement and said,
  

  They worked very hard for me and they are the reason for what I am today. My coaches also supported me a lot.”

• After the 2018 Commonwealth Games, he suffered a minor knee injury following which he had to keep himself away from weightlifting for seven months. Reportedly, he spent Rs 5 lakh to recover from the injury, and after his recovery, he won a medal at the Inter-Railway Championship.

• In 2019, he won silver at the Commonwealth Senior Championships in the 89kg category; he lifted 325 kg in total (145 kg snatch, and 180 kg clean & jerk).

• Rahul has got a tattoo of his parents inked on his chest. In an interview, he talked about this tattoo and said,
  

  My mother passed away two years ago and I got this tattoo two months after her loss. It is my way of showing my love for them.”