Bansal turns on the power
A Wolverhampton powerlifter has been crowned world champion of the bench press after lifting more than double his own bodyweight.
Harbans Bansal from Fallings Park benched 205kg while weighing just 96.8kg at the Drug-Free Powerlifting Federation’s world championships in Antwerp.
The 36-year-old health care assistant smashed his personal best by 10kg to claim the world title, which came just five years after he started competing.
“It’s a bit of weird one really because previous to this year I had a year off due to injury, so my last world champs was 2015, when I benched 195kg and ended up third,” Bansal told the Express & Star.
“I had a year out, did one competition last year, and won the British title with 192kg but I was hoping to build up and do well in the worlds.
“At the beginning of this year I went for the British title again and just missed out but I equalled my personal best with 195kg, that gave me a lot of confidence.
“From March to May I was training hard, concentrating on the world champs. My goal was to get over 200kg.
“I went in really relaxed and that helped, I normally put too much pressure on myself – and I beat my PB by 10kg.
“It didn’t sink in for a good week, not until I came back to Wolverhampton.”
Bansal has been training at Muscle Masters Gym in Wolverhampton, just off Park Lane, for over 10 years.
He admitted that he seemed to fall into powerlifting, but it’s been a meteoric rise for the bench master.
“When I first started training at Muscle Masters I was only going as a hobby but a few people there competed,” he explained
“They watched my bench pressing and said you should compete because you’re built for it.
“I won my first competition in 2012 pretty easily, and I had the bug then. In 2013 I won my first British title. Some of the guys I compete against have been doing it for a number of years.”
Next up is the European Championship in Ukraine this September, and even though he’s reached the pinnacle of the sport, Bansal is not going to stop.
“In the powerlifting circuit we’re all good friends,” he said. “We all talk about the competition together, and we all had a little drink after. It’s nice.”
