No one typifies the moniker ‘Ironman’ as much as ex-Marine Commando (MARCOS) Praveen Kumar Teotia. And it’s not only because he has completed the renowned Ironman Triathlon — a gruelling competition that features swimming (3.8km), biking (180km), and running (42.2km) within 17 hours — four times (South Africa 2018, Malaysia 2018, America 2019, Australia 2024) but also given his sheer will to stay highly active despite a damaged lung after being shot four times by terrorists at the Taj Hotel during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Recalling that skirmish with four terrorists in a dark room, Teotia says: “I was trying to fall back when I got shot. One bullet went through my right lung, another sliced my left ear, the third got lodged in a spare magazine stored in my jacket while the fourth got lodged in my vest, inches in front of the heart. Moments before being shot, I had resigned myself to fate and tossed a hand grenade that would have eliminated the terrorists and me, but it never went off.”