It was from the most unlikely of beginnings that the 22-year-old Mabia Aktar became a sporting star and symbol of female empowerment in her home country of Bangladesh for her success in weightlifting.
Growing up in rural Khilgaon, her family faced financial hardship. Aktar was forced to stop going to school and struggled to eat the nutrition she needed to be able to train. Now she is a double gold medallist in the South Asian games, and this week she competed in her first Commonwealth Games as her country’s flagbearer.
