-News n Visuals : Praveen L.Carvalho
Aurangabad, July 22, 2026 — Two days after stepping off the podium with a bronze in the Classic format, Roshan Lobo was back under the bar at Garkheda Stadium — and this time he walked away with four medals in a single afternoon, headlined by an overall silver in the 83 kg Equipped category.
The 41-year-old from Hosala Barkur closed his total at 610 kg, built lift by lift: bronze in the squat with 235 kg, bronze in the bench press with 130 kg, and silver in the deadlift with 245 kg. Taken together, the numbers gave him the second-best total in the country in his weight class — a result that outweighs, in every sense, the bronze he had collected just 48 hours earlier in the Classic event at the same venue.
The distinction between the two competitions matters. Classic powerlifting is raw — no supportive gear beyond a singlet, wrist wraps and a belt. Equipped lifting allows supportive suits and shirts that change how weight is moved through the squat and bench press in particular, often unlocking bigger numbers but demanding an entirely different technical skill set to use that equipment correctly. That Lobo could switch formats inside 48 hours and not just compete, but medal in all three lifts plus the overall total, says as much about his versatility as either result does on its own.
The deadlift silver stands out as the day's high point. At 245 kg, it was his heaviest single lift across both competitions this week, and enough to hold off the rest of the 83 kg equipped field for second place. It suggests that whatever fatigue two competitions in three days might carry, Lobo's pulling strength was undiminished — if anything, sharpened by back-to-back competition rhythm rather than worn down by it.
For an athlete whose training happens in whatever fragments his job allows him, back-to-back national podiums in different formats is not a small technical feat. Most lifters build toward a single peak and taper carefully into it. Lobo, by contrast, has now shown he can hold form across two different rulesets on consecutive days — squat, bench and deadlift each drawing hardware in both.
With this, his tally for the week stands at five national medals — one Classic bronze, and now an Equipped silver overall alongside three individual lift medals — capping a run that began with a Karnataka state selection in February and a Masters berth secured only weeks ago. The Classic bronze opened the door; the Equipped silver has walked straight through it.