At 70, she’s now a powerlifter. How this retired teacher refuses to slow down

Raised in Amravati, a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Hazari studied in Mumbai and represented her college in table tennis and swimming before marrying and leaving for Hong Kong.

She and her merchant navy officer husband lived on a ship docked on the city’s outskirts when they first landed. Running from the port into the city and back was the fastest and cheapest way to commute, and she soon started running seriously over longer distances and joining races.

“I definitely have slow-twitch muscles,” Hazari says, referring to the type of fatigue-resistant muscle fibres designed for endurance that everyone has to varying degrees.

She trained the old-fashioned way, before the internet became common use: by reading books.