Saud Abu Ramadan |
Gaza (EFE) ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.
After years of working for it, a few months ago a group of boxing enthusiasts founded the Palestinian Boxing Center for Women, which already has dozens of girls and young people between the ages of 8 and 29 who train regularly in its gym at the Al Deportivo Club. Mashtal, in the capital Gaza.
There they break with the preconceived idea that sports like this are only for men, and they also challenge the conventions, roles and gender stereotypes that are still preeminent among a large part of Gazans.
a seed planted
“Our community traditions force women to stay away from many types of sports under the pretext that they are limited to men,” but “now we have planted the seed of boxing for women in Gaza,” Osama Ayoub, co-founder, told EFE. of the club and trainer of the boxers.
This 39-year-old Gazan had already considered the project when he was participating as a boxer in tournaments in Algeria, Egypt, South Korea or Jordan, and since 2017 he began training girls on the beach and public parks in the Strip.
In international competitions, she witnessed “the fantastic performance of Arab women of various ages” and was inspired by them to think of a Palestinian model where women were included.
When Ayoub shared his idea with friends and colleagues, none of them thought it was feasible, as they live in a community where people tend to have very conservative ideas about women, he explains.
female empowerment
As the project progresses, the coach says that many people change their views on women’s boxing when they see the positive effects on the athletes’ mood.
“I love this sport because it gives us confidence and teaches us to defend ourselves,” Hala Ayoub, 18, told EFE.
Her goal, she adds, is to “show everyone” in the ring that this sport is “for both men and women” and that “every woman has the right to play the sport she loves and achieve her ambitions.”
“I aspire to participate in international tournaments, to raise the Palestinian flag and for society to feel proud of us”, she highlights.
For Jodi al Nimer, a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager who practices boxing in the gym, this sport opened her eyes to a new world and gives her a positive energy that allowed her to overcome certain fears.
“I dream of becoming a doctor when I grow up and a boxing hero, to represent Palestine in Arab and international competitions,” Al Nimer remarks in her boxing uniform at the gym, where she does aerobics and boxing against a heavy bag with her bulky gloves.
International projection
As Ali Abdul Shafi, the other co-founder of the club, explained to EFE, the project started just three months ago with financing from him and his partner Ayoub, as well as a bank loan.
With this they were able to prepare the gym and buy the necessary equipment and tools to start, and now they are looking to expand the project with the support of an international boxing club with financial resources and connections so that their athletes can join championships abroad.
This represents a greater challenge given the strict blockade that Israel has applied on Gaza by land, sea and air since 2007, when Hamas – whom Israel considers a terrorist group – took control of it. Added to this are strong restrictions applied by Egypt, which also shares a border with the Strip.
Since then, the movement of people from the enclave has been greatly reduced, which also affects athletes trying to obtain permits to go to train or compete abroad, including in the occupied West Bank.
Added to this is the lack of basic products or tools to practice certain sports due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of certain goods, which is why many athletes face an arduous daily struggle to continue their sport in a scenario of material scarcity.
However, despite this scenario, in the women’s boxing center of Gaza they do not give up and look for all the ways to give more horizons to young people who feel more and more empowered.
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