By Russell Bennett
Ruwan Paul is making a serious name for himself in the south-east powerlifting scene, recently walking away with an eye-catching haul from the Australian Masters Games in Adelaide.
Paul, from Dandenong, is still relatively new to the sport of powerlifting but – thanks to the tireless support of his wife Lidia – has already achieved the incredible.
In his first time competing at the Masters Games, Paul won a gold medal in the bench press, and the next day followed that up with a silver medal while also establishing a new Australian record in the squat. The previous record was 219 kilograms, which he bettered to record 220kg.
Paul participated in the 120-kilogram, 50-54 year old male Master 3 class after training for the event without a coach or support staff – a truly astonishing achievement.
Following his breakthrough performance in Adelaide, Paul has been selected to represent Australia at the World Masters Games and the New Zealand Masters games, from which he hopes to bring home gold.
He’s also been selected in Australia’s Masters powerlifting team to participate in the Asia Pacific competition in Hong Kong from 13 to 15 December, where – again – he hopes to medal.
His achievements are all the more remarkable given he’s been involved in the sport for less than six months, doesn’t have a coach, and has received much of his training inspiration from YouTube videos and information sourced from the internet.
“I have always been passionate about lifting weights since I was very young,” he explained.
“(And) apart from powerlifting I used to play soccer and compete in martial arts.”
Paul trains at Noble Park’s In2Performance gym but said he never expected to break the Australian record.
“But my sacrifices, training, and discipline gave me those wonderful results,” he said.
Paul will compete in New Zealand in February, where he’s set himself the ultimate goal of bringing home gold.
He also has eyes firmly on another couple of international events in 2020 and 2021, while his biggest dream is to participate in the World powerlifting event in Japan in 2021.
Paul’s lofty ambitions mean that his powerlifting journey isn’t a cheap one. Not only does he need to link up with a coach, but he’s spending a significant amount of money on equipment, nutrition, and physiotherapy. Anyone who would like to sponsor him on his journey could email him on ruwanpaul@hotmail.com.
