A 105-year-old woman from Haryana beat all odds and set a new record in 100m sprint at the inaugural National Open Masters Athletics Championships in Vadodara, Gujarat.
The inspirational Rambai had entered in the above-100 category but ended up running the race alone, due to lack of competitors in the segment. However, she went one step ahead of just completing the race and finished it in 45.40 seconds. This helped her break the above-100 100m sprint national record of 74 seconds that was set by the late Man Kaur at the 2017 World Masters Games.
The video of her effort has since gone viral on Twitter. She can be seen starting the race to loud cheers from the spectators before slowing down as she got closer to the finish line. She then ambled past it and it was enough for her to beat the national record.
Rambai had earlier won gold in the 200m category as well, running the race in 1 minute, 52.17 seconds. According to the Times of India, the centenarian started competing at the age of 104. “I was ready to run (at a younger age) but no one gave me a chance,” she is quoted as saying.
“I eat churma, dahi and doodh,” Rambai is quoted as saying when asked what the secret of her success was.
“A pure vegetarian, nani is particular about having about 250 grams of ghee daily and 500gm of curd,” said Sharmila Sangwan, Rambai’s granddaughter who also competed and won medals at the event.
“She also drinks 500ml of pure milk twice a day. She likes bajre ki roti (flat bread made of millet) and doesn’t eat much rice,” Sharmila said.
