It made me uneasy: Keyaa Banerji on fake AI content, fame during her powerlifting rise

For most athletes, a breakthrough performance should be the start of a celebration. It also marked the beginning of a completely unexpected challenge for Keyao Banerji.

The 21-year-old powerlifter became an overnight sensation after her extraordinary deadlift of 140kg in the junior women’s 47kg category in Sun City, South Africa. The lift, more than three times her competition body weight of 45.70 kg, earned Banerji a silver medal and brought unprecedented attention to her journey in the sport.

In addition to her excellent deadlift, she recorded a squat of 90kg and a bench press of 50kg, securing a combined total of 280kg to finish fifth overall in her category.

NAVIGATING UNWANTED FAME

However, the global spotlight came with serious consequences she never anticipated. In addition to the sudden loss of privacy, Banerji faced online harassment, impersonation and disturbingly invasive conversations about her ethnicity, ancestry and caste. The saddest part was that thousands of AI-generated images of her were morphed and edited without her consent, flooding her feed as well as images from her immediate surroundings. (Image: Screengrab from Instagram Stories/@keyaakunalbanerji)

The ordeal was compounded when Instagram suspended her original private account, which had only 300 followers and where she rarely posted photos. To reclaim her story, prevent further suspensions, and ensure she wasn’t silenced, she made the difficult decision to create a new public profile.

“I have always been a very private person and I did my sport purely for a sense of personal fulfillment,” Banerji told Sports Today. “When I saw the clip of me walking around the IPF Worlds, it made me uneasy at first because I had a private Instagram account and didn’t have much of a social media presence. At first, I wanted to share this success with my close friends and family. It still worries me that I suddenly have a public account, but I’d rather take the tentative steps to read it for myself than interpret it differently every day.”

6 She further clarified on her social media that she has no intention of becoming a content creator or profiting from her new page, strictly using it to gain her authentic voice and prevent continued abuse.

FOCUS ON SPORTS

In the interview, Banerji made it clear that she wants the focus to stay where it really belongs: on her sport, her personal growth and the broader challenges facing Indian powerlifting.

“Also, I have made it clear earlier and I would not like to go into it too much,” Banerji said. “Now that I get opportunities to speak on such platforms, I would like to keep the conversation connected to my sport.”

After her medal performance, Keyaa Banerji opened up about the social media attention she received, saying much of the conversation focused on her looks rather than her sporting achievements.

Banerji called it “sexism at its finest” and said male athletes would not do it pic.twitter.com/8CL8lFCH1O— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) September 6, 2026

For Banerji, the growing media attention offers a crucial opportunity to raise the profile of a discipline that remains on the fringes of the Indian sporting landscape. Her achievements on the international stage have made her one of the most promising young athletes in the country.

Off the platform, her journey is just as multifaceted. Banerji recently graduated from Ashoka University with a BSc in Psychology and is currently considering an MBA. For now, however, her primary focus is to build on her breakout international campaign and continue her upward trajectory in powerlifting.

– The end

Issued by:

Amar Panicker

Published on:

07 Sep 2026 14:55 IST