Taliban Has Banned Sports For Women, But This Teenager Promises To Represent Them In The Ring

Earlier this week, in a not-so-surprising move the Taliban regime had banned women from playing cricket or any other sport, in which their bodies could be seen.

"It wasn't necessary for women to play cricket because they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this", Ahmadullah Wasiq, deputy head of Taliban's cultural commission had said.

While it is definitely a setback for the Afghan women, who in recent years found their freedom and made their presence fled on the world stage, the Taliban cannot prevent female athletes from taking part in competitions.

That is exactly what Seema Rezai plans to do.

AFP

The 18-year-old who recently fled to Qatar was a member of Afghanistan¡¯s national boxing team.

Currently living alone in a villa complex built to accommodate guests for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Rezai still trains every day, without her boxing gloves, which she had left behind.

Born after the fall of the Taliban, Rezai had only heard about the life under the militants from her parents.

AFP

But when the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan became inevitable, Rezai knew she would be in danger.

¡°I knew the Taliban had very strict rules against women, and that they would not allow women to practice boxing or other sports,¡± she says.

¡°Without boxing, I could not live. Because my profession, my ambition, my everything belongs to boxing,¡± Rezai explains. ¡°So I made a plan to get out of Afghanistan.¡±

So like millions of Afghans, Rezai and her family also went to the Kabul airport and waited there for two days to leave the country.

AFP

Thanks to the intervention of a journalist, Rezai got her name listed for evacuation, and left for Doha, without her family.

Amid all the struggles and fear of her loved ones back home, Rezai, who has ¡°boxer¡± and the Olympic rings, tattooed on her arms said, she wants to speak up for the Afghan women.

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¡°I will keep using my voice to bring attention to women in Afghanistan,¡± she said because to be silent is to be weak. ¡°Wherever I go, I will speak for them.¡±