Sonika Yadav
This is a story of extraordinary grit. Sonika Yadav, a 31-year-old constable of the Delhi Police, recently stunned spectators and shook assumptions at the All India Police Weightlifting Cluster 2025–26 in Andhra Pradesh on October 17.
What made the moment historic was not just her performance — it was the fact that she was seven months pregnant when she stepped on that platform. (
From Duty to Deadlift
Sonika joined the Delhi Police in 2014, serving in community policing and earlier in beat officer roles where she worked to curb the drug menace in Delhi’s Majnu ka Tila area.
She had always been drawn to sport and fitness. Initially, it was kabaddi with the Delhi Police team. Later, she took up gym training to lose weight—and found her passion for heavy lifting.
By August 2023, she had bagged her first gold medal at the Delhi State Powerlifting Championship.
When she discovered she was pregnant in May, most would see that as a reason to pause, rest, and delay ambitions.
Sonika saw it differently: she announced to herself that pregnancy would not become a disease or a setback.
The Platform Moment
On October 17, as she took her place at the meet, many assumed the increase in her body-weight category was due simply to gained mass.
They didn’t realize she was carrying a new life. Then she squared her grip on the barbell and lifted 145 kg (after earlier squats of 125 kg and bench press of 80 kg) — a world of strength in motion.
She admitted she could have gone for 135 kg (which was her scheduled lift), but she chose 145 to push the boundary. And she succeeded — earning the bronze medal.
Why This Matters
In sporting lore, pregnancy and elite competition seldom coexist in the same spotlight.
What Sonika did appears unprecedented in her category — she researched and found only one reference globally of a woman pregnant competing in powerlifting (Lucie Martins) and reached out for tips.
Her achievement signals a few profound things:
- Redefining limits: She separates physical condition from capability and challenges the idea that pregnancy equals pause.
- Visibility & inspiration: Her presence on that platform offers other women the living proof that while the journey may differ, the ambition needn’t.
- Changing narratives: Instead of hiding pregnancy as “weakness”, she presented it as context, as strength — in full view.
- Human behind the badge: She isn’t just a powerlifter or a police officer or a pregnant woman — she is all of these, lived fully.
A Few Personal Touches
- She didn’t use a lifting belt (because of her belly size) and still pushed through.
- Her husband, Ankur Bana, stepped in to assist her on stage when she couldn’t immediately get up from the bench press — a detail mostly unnoticed by the crowd at first.
- She remained in regular consultation with her gynecologist throughout her training period, ensuring safety and awareness rather than ignorance.
While there may have been women athletes who competed while pregnant, the specific scenario — police officer, national-level powerlifting event, seven months pregnant, pulling 145 kg — seems likely to be unprecedented in India, and perhaps rare globally.
Sonika’s own search didn’t find a precedent.
However, claiming “first ever in the world” is a big claim and would require global verification.
Sports records are not always complete, especially in lesser-published meets and older eras.
So, while one can say her story is extremely rare and probably unique in this form, one should stop short of claiming absolute historical first unless additional research confirms it.
In Her Own Words
I don’t want pregnancy to be taken as a disease or something that stops women from doing something. It is normal, and I wanted to set an example.”
And that, perhaps, is the strongest takeaway: she lifts not only weight, but expectation.
Sonika continues to train post-competition, still pregnant, still committed. Her journey signals a larger cultural shift: in fitness, sports, and motherhood, women are refusing to be boxed in.
She shows that even while fulfilling duties — to country, family, body — ambition can persist.
As she and her family prepare for the new arrival, she also prepares for a future in sport that may include higher lifts, more medals, and breakthrough narratives.
The baby will have a powerful birthplace story: “born to a mother who deadlifted 145 kg at seven months pregnant”.
Some stories are about breaking records. Others are about breaking the very idea of what a record means. Sonika Yadav’s story is the latter.
She invites us to question: Why should pregnancy automatically mean a pause on ambition?
Why should motherhood and sport be seen as opposites? And perhaps most importantly: what strength remains in waiting when the world expects you to wait?
#SonikaYadav #PregnantPowerlifter #DelhiPolice #WomenInSport #BreakingBarriers #Weightlifting #StrengthInMotherhood #Inspiration #FitnessJourney #NeverTooLate