Shawdesh Desk:

Mabia Akter Simanta, two-time gold winner in South Asian Games weightlifting, tied the knot with another award-winning weightlifter Shakhawat Hossain Pranto on Friday.

Mabia won golds in the tournament in 2016 and 2019, and Shakhawat won a silver in the 2019 edition of the games.

“We were not in a romantic relationship, but I liked him. He sent the proposal to my family in 2023. I feel he is a good man and can take care of me. We could have married earlier, but both of us were busy with tournaments. So, it took some time, and [in the meantime] both of us managed to get consents from our families,” said Mabia.

Both weightlifters represent Bangladesh Ansar.