Mabia Akhter Simanta (born 7 October 1999) is a Bangladeshi

weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

. She was born in

Madaripur Madaripur ( bn, মাদারীপুর ), being a part of the Dhaka Division, is a district in central Bangladesh. History Madaripur subdivision was established in 1854 under the district of Bakerganj. In 1873 it was separated from Bakerganj ...

. She won gold medal in the women's 63 kg weight class at the

2016 South Asian Games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 sports ...

at Guwahati. She also won a gold in youth section and two silver medals in senior & juniors section in the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Pune, India in October 2015 in the women's 63 kg category. She lifted a total weight of 176 kg in winning the gold medal.

Early life

Akhter's father Harunur Rashid was a small grocery owner.

Career

She came into weightlifting by her maternal uncle, Shahadat Kazi in 2010. She won a bronze in the 2012 South Asian Weightlifting Championship, silver in the 2013 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Malaysia. In 2016, she took part in the Asian Weightlifting Championships for the first time and stood 13th in the women's 63 kg weight class. Mabia stood 6th in the same category during her 18th Asian Games journey. Besides her sporting career, Mabia serves in

Bangladesh Ansar The Bangladesh Ansar (also known as the Ansar Bahini) is a paramilitary auxiliary force responsible for the preservation of internal security and law enforcement in Bangladesh. It is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government ...

Personal life

Mabia Akhter came from a poor family. At one time her study was stopped due to poverty. Now she got admitted to

Bangladesh Open University The Bangladesh Open University ( bn, বাংলাদেশ উন্মুক্ত বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) or BOU is a public university with its main campus in Board Bazar, Gazipur District, Dhaka Division. It is the 8t ...

to continue her study.

Awards

Anannya Top Ten Awards Anannya Top Ten Awards ( bn, অনন্যা শীর্ষ দশ পুরস্কার) is the prize for women in Bangladesh recognition of contribution to the fields of agriculture, industrial, trade, economics, acting, music, sports, ...

(2015)

References

External links

Interview
in

Prothom Alo ''The Daily Prothom Alo'' ( bn, প্রথম আলো) is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducte ...