Kiwi student ready to take on the World Powerlifting Championships

May 4, 2018

Kiwi student ready to take on the World Powerlifting Championships

Shehnaz Hussain deadlifting 95kgs. Photo: Gabrielle Tutheridge.

A twenty-year-old medical student is making her dream come true by representing New Zealand on the World Powerlifting Stage.

Shehnaz Hussain has been selected to compete in the under 52kg World Classic Powerlifting Championships, which is being held in Calgary, Canada this June.

An emotional moment for Ms Hussain who says she cried and screamed when she found out the news.

“I was shocked and overwhelmed but I had been training as if I was going, so to find out that my training was worth it was also good.” She says.

Angus Blair who has been Miss Hussain’s coach since 2016, says he always knew it was possible for her if she stuck at it.

“I’ve been working on getting Shehnaz a spot on the world’s team over the last two years. It is well deserved considering the work she has put in.” he says.

Miss Hussain is studying a Bachelor of Medicine at Auckland University, which she says can be a struggle with balancing her time.

“I get worried when I see other people studying for a lot longer than I am. I must remind myself I don’t have to spend a lot of time studying. Powerlifting puts more pressure on me to get stuff in my head, really fast, and because of that I have learnt to study in a short amount of time.”

Mr Blair believes that the hardest part of being a powerlifter, is pulling together the complete lifestyle.

“For a med student like Shehnaz, who has a tremendous academic workload, I find it particularly impressive how well she is able to manage lifestyle factors so that she can continue to perform at this level.” He says.

Ms Hussain has only been powerlifting for two years and started strength training back in high school.

“I used to do track and field, and on the side, we used to do strength training. I just wanted to get strong because I was always a small girl at school, I didn’t want to be known as weak.”

She weighs 50kg, and squats twice her weight now feels anything but weak.

“I see my body as a machine, not as a silhouette.”

Miss Hussain will be flying into Calgary to compete on the 10th of June.

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