Priya Singh: Rajasthan's first female bodybuilder, a mother of two, is breaking stereotypes

Priya Singh is bringing laurels to India

Priya Singh - who hails from Rajasthan's Bikaner - topped the podium at the competition which was held on December 17 and 18 in Pattaya, Thailand.

Hailing from a lower caste, Priya Singh has been doing well at national and international competitions but she has hardly found any recognition from the centre or state governments.

She also became the first female bodybuilder from Rajasthan to win a gold medal and the pro card at an international competition.

Priya Singh's biography

Priya Singh had to fight social taboos and challenges to get to this stage. As child marriage was the prevalent custom in her village, she was married at the age of eight.

To support her family financially, she took up a job at a local gym and got the job due to her strong physique. What started as a fitness routine at the gym finally transformed into an interest in bodybuilding.

Priya started taking bodybuilding seriously after some encouragement from her husband and colleagues, she took it up as a profession. She started competing at a local level and gradually progressed to the state level.

Ventured into male dominated sport

She entered the male-dominated sport after becoming a mother of two kids. She has been fighting social dogma from the start of her career in bodybuilding for it is not a conventional sporting arena for a woman to step into.

Excelling in a domain where there is hardly any representation from her gender hasn't been easy but Priya successfully countered every hardship that came her way and created a niche for herself.

The support of her family members has been one of the biggest reasons for her success as the society in the country hasn't been encouraging women to take up sports, let alone bodybuilding.

But with the constant encouragement of her family, she's now a successful gym trainer and an idol for several young girls who wish to pursue a career in fitness and bodybuilding.

Priya hasn't looked back

She bagged three consecutive gold medals at state-level competitions. She won the Miss Rajasthan title for three successive years between 2018 and 2020.

With the gold medal at the 39th International Women's Bodybuilding Competition, Priya hopes things will change, but so far, she has hardly found any encouragement from the administration.