Meet the Waterloo teen taking down women twice her age in armwrestling competitions

For the past 10 months, 13 year-old Iti Manchandanof Waterloo, Ont., has been using her signature move to take home the gold in armwrestling competitions.

"My first move is to throw all my strength and everything I've got and just hit them withspeed," she said in an interview on CBC K-W's The Morning Edition with Craig Norris.

There's not a lot of girls who take part in the sport, so Manchandan often finds herself competing against women twice her age.

After taking the top spot in her class at the 2024 Ontario Provincial Armwrestling Championships, the 2024 Canadian National Championships and the 2024 Michigan Arms State Armwrestling Championship, Manchandan now has her sight, and arms,set on winning the Asian International Armwrestling Cup set to take place this month.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Audio of the interview can be found at the bottom of this article.

Craig Norris: When did you first realize that you had this talent for armwrestling?

Iti Manchandan:Ever since I was really young, I used to armwrestle with my parents and grandparents. So ever since then I just fell in love with armwrestling and I also used to do boxing and I was like,you know, this is a sport for me which involves strength.

I really wanted to get into armwrestling. So just 10 months back, we went to our first ever tournament in Toronto. It was called Table Monkeys and that's also who I trained with. So ever since then I was like this is for me and I love it.

Craig Norris: What is it you love so much about competing?

Iti Manchandan:It's about showing the strength on the table. I just love that andit's an amazing sport ... My mom used to see how much I loved armwrestling with my dad and she's like, why don't we actuallyget you competing if you're loving it so much?

And then we went there and I got second place in my first ever tournament and then ever since then I started training really hard.

Craig Norris: How do you trainas an athlete at this sport?

Iti Manchandan:I train with my coach Yannis. He's in Europe.I want tolearn some Europe training styles as well. I train with my coach Sarah Wilson, she's also a world champion, so I train with herand my dad and Table Monkeys, theToronto-based club.

Craig Norris: Where do you find these competitions?

Iti Manchandan: We just try to get them off of social media and my parents take me, no matter how far it is, they drive me there.

Craig Norris:Is it unusual for a 13-year-old girl to be an armwrestling champ or doyou find that there are a lot of girls doing this like you?

Iti Manchandan:No, we have less girls, especially teen girls. There's not enough in the sport and we all want some more teen girls to come into the sport ... Some of them [the competitions] I have to pull with womentwice my age because there's no one my age.

Craig Norris: What about friends at school? Are you trying to get them into it?

Iti Manchandan: I try, but they don't really like it. But I try to make them like it.

Craig Norris: You are the provincial champ, the national champ, the Michigan State champ with both arms. What's your secret to that?

Iti Manchandan:Training hard and really mymain motivation for winning all these golds is to pay back my parents for what they've done, taking me everywhere. So that's how I paid them back, by getting all the golds back home.

Craig Norris:So when you get ready tolock arms with your opponent and you heargo, What is your first move?

Iti Manchandan:My first move is to throw all my strength and everything I've got and just hit them in speed.

Craig Norris: You are headed to India for Asia's biggest armwrestling competition. How are you feeling about that?

Iti Manchandan:I feel pretty good. I am really confident, but I'm also a bit nervous to see how it goes. But I'm really excited and I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be really fun.

Craig Norris: What does this mean to you to be able to do this as a young woman?

Iti Manchandan: It's honestly such an honour to do a sport like armwrestling.

I've always been doing since such a young age, but we didn't know that I could actually compete in it until just10 months back. So it's really exciting. Every time I go on the table I'm excited and also a bit nervous to see what happens.

ButI'm seeing the training pay off so I feel more motivated to actually go.

Craig Norris: What's next for you?

Iti Manchandan: After the Asian championships, where I see where I stand in Asia, I'll go to Worlds, which is in 2025 in Bulgaria.

My goal is to do good over there and hopefully bring back some medals for Canada.

LISTEN|Iti Manchandan, Canadian National armwrestling champion:

The Morning Edition - K-W6:2913-year-old arm wrestling champion from Waterloo

If you think you're strong, try being a 13-year-old girl arm wrestling someone twice your age and winning. That's the case for Waterloo's Iti Manchanda. She takes us through how she got started in the sport and how this summer she made it all the way to the top.