The Senior National Weightlifting Championships 2021-22 for Men and Women will be held at Bhubaneshwar in Odisha from today. Railway Sports Promotion Board, the sports arm of Indian Railways has sent a strong contingent from Indian Railways in this Championship. Indian Railways Men team has been winners in the National Weightlifting Championships continuously for the last four years and Railways Women team have been winners in the last two National Championships.

Indian Railways is one of the largest organizations in the country which provides employment to the sportspersons and Railway Sports Promotion Board as a part of its sports promotion activities and with the motive of Jahan Khel Wahan Rail develops sports infrastructure for providing world-class training and facilities to not only Indian Railways sportspersons but also to the sportspersons of the country for improvement of their sporting skills and for polishing their talent. With approximately 10 thousand sports employees including around three thousand actively involved in sports activities, Indian Railways is largest employer of men and women sportspersons in the country.

Ministry of Railways said, it is also a matter of record that Indian Railways sportspersons have played an excellent role in bringing laurels to the country at the International platforms. Be it Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, or the Olympics, Indian Railways sportspersons have a large contribution to performance of India.

It said, Indian Railways have produced star weightlifters like Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who brought silver medal for the country in the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and became the first-ever weightlifter from India to win a silver medal at Olympics, Arjuna awardees like Sathish Sivalingam, Renu Bala, Sanjita Chanu and many more.