At 50, senior bureaucrat wins National Powerlifting medals, breaks records

New Delhi, Apr 15: While the majority of world thinks of early retirement at 50, a senior woman bureaucrat in Delhi has proven that when it comes to fitness, age is just a number and you can continue to be on the top with hard work and dedication.

Ekta Vishnoi, Deputy Director General at Sports Authority of India (SAI) and woman behind the now well-established Fit India Movement. While she has already made in the world of fitness, she is now making even bigger waves in the world of Powerlifting having won multiple medals and broken records at the recently concluded National Senior Powerlifting Championship in Hyderabad.

At 50, Vishnoi competed with girls half her age and won a Silver in the deadlift with the best lift of 165kg and a Bronze overall with the best lifts of 132.5 kg in the squat, 70 kg in the bench press and 165 kg in the deadlift. With these lifts, she also broke all records of the Master 2 category in the competition.

Earlier, Vishnoi had also won the gold medal in the national masters powerlifting championship and a gold and a silver medal in the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship and Asian Powerlifting Championship, 2022. For her feat, she was also awarded a certificate of honour by e Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in 2023.

What is more, she is not making waves as an athlete, but also as an administrator. An Indian Revenue Service officer of the 1999 batch, Vishnoi is currently serving as the Mission Director of Fit India Movement, a Government of India initiative to make India a fit and healthy nation, and heading the prestigious Khelo India Scheme, Vishnoi is working towards making India a sporting nation where every citizen is fit.