70-kg Rahul Panicker defeats famous bodybuilder Larry Wheels in an arm-wrestling match - WATCH
Wheels faced a 70-kg Indian National Arm Wrestling Champion in Rahul Panicker. Even though Wheels had a considerable size advantage over Panicker, the Indian proved to be a tough nut to crack for the American.
Larry Wheels is one of the most famous bodybuilders in the world. The American is one of the most recognisable faces in bodybuilding due to his wide social media reach. Wheels weighs around 110-115 kgs with a height of more than six feet. He has a lot of powerlifting records to his name as he has lifted around 367 kgs in squat while also doing a 276-kg bench press. Wheels also has a record of a 387-kg deadlift.
But he faced a different sort of challenge recently. Wheels regularly posts videos on Youtube of his workout routines and various arm-wrestling match-ups he has in the gym.
Wheels faced a 70-kgs Indian National Arm Wrestling Champion in Rahul Panicker. Even though Wheels had a considerable size advantage over Panicker, the Indian proved to be a tough nut to crack for the American.
Panicker participated in an arm-wrestling match with Wheels and managed to come out victorious. Panicker lost the first two rounds to Wheels and made a stirring comeback to win the next three rounds. The match took place in Dubai and had a lot of onlookers cheering them on.
Here is the video of the match-
Even though he is a software engineer by profession, Panicker has always been interested in sports. He belongs to a family of fitness enthusiasts with his father being a former ‘Powerman of India’ and his uncle also a weightlifting champion.
"In my family, my father and his four elder brothers are all into fitness," Panicker told TOI in 2019.
"So, I have always gravitated towards sports," he said.
"My father had installed a home gym equipment and made me exercise with it. Initially, like everyone else, I was lazy but he persisted and slowly I started liking it," Panicker added.