From Strength to Strength

Powerlifter Kenneth Kaden Chin strives to give more exposure and support for the sport in Malaysia

- Elizabeth Soong

Kenneth Kaden Chin never imagined that he would become a powerlifting national champion when he stumbled upon the sport in a shopping mall back in 2017. Immediately captivated by the sport and its supportive community, he signed up to join a local competition. “I decided to give it a try and experience it first-hand to see how it feels,” he says, adding that he was just a casual gym-goer who did workouts for health and physical purposes. “After joining the competition, I realised I actually have quite a lot of potential to succeed in this sport and decided to continue.”

Based on his own passion and capability, he also saw a great opportunity to be one of the early adopters of the sport, considering that it was fairly new in Malaysia at the time and had a limited pool of talent. “Powerlifting has been well-established in many other countries, but there was minimal awareness of it locally,” says Chin who went on to join various local and international competitions where he clinched medal after medal. Last year, he set a record for being the first and only Malaysian male silver medallist at the IPF Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships 2022, held in Auckland, New Zealand. He won four silver medals in the U-59kg Open Weight Category division for Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and Overall Placing.

Powerlifting is a competitive strength sport in which an athlete undertakes three lifts—squat, bench press and deadlift, in that order. A test of raw strength, the primary goal is to work towards increasing the maximum weight they lift for each attempt. During a competition, scores are calculated in total based on the amount of weight lifted in each event.