On this {photograph} taken on December 11, 2024, Anita Karim, a blended martial arts fighter, takes half in a coaching session at a membership in Islamabad. — AFP
Rising up within the rugged northern reaches, Anita Karim honed her fight abilities preventing with three older brothers who pulled no punches.
The bruising expertise ready her for a profession in Blended Martial Arts (MMA) — mixing Thai kickboxing, Japanese judo and wrestling — and she or he is now the nation’s pre-eminent lady fighter.
“The village where I come from, they support women fighters,” she advised AFP. “But when I started MMA, they had no awareness of this sport.”
“They said it’s a men’s game exclusively and a woman cannot do that one,” the 28-year-old stated.
Eight years in the past she gained the proper to enter the ring, swiftly changing into Pakistan’s first internationally competing lady MMA fighter and showing in Asia’s largest promotion, ONE Championship.
“Now misogynistic comments and criticisms have stopped,” she stated at her fitness center within the capital Islamabad, the place she trains with out heating within the octagonal “cage” the place fighters face off.
It’s uncommon for ladies to take up sport within the nation, the place it’s usually forbidden by households.
However Karim’s native Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) area — the place feminine modesty codes are extra relaxed — has change into an incubator for ladies’s sport.
In October, two sisters from the area, Maliha and Maneesha Ali, introduced again gold and bronze from a taekwondo competitors in Indonesia.
‘Arm collector’
Karim’s brother Uloomi, who turned her coach after being on the receiving finish of her blows, stated help started at dwelling.
On this {photograph} taken on December 11, 2024, Anita Karim and Bushra Ahmed, participate in a coaching session at a membership in Islamabad. — AFP
“When she showed the commitment, the dedication, we knew that she was going to make it,” stated the 33-year-old, standing of their family-owned fitness center.
“We knew that she could take it and we did not have any issues with her training with any guy.”
Surprisingly timid exterior the ring, Karim is on the head of a cohort of Pakistani feminine MMA fighters — 5 from GB, in line with the regional authorities.
“She’s shy, but when she enters the cage, it’s completely different,” stated Uloomi, who has additionally competed within the sport.
Her speciality is the armlock, deployed with an agonising all-body grip, which goals to power an opponent to “tap out” in submission earlier than bones are damaged or joints wrecked.
In 2022 she was pictured atop a podium in Pakistan with two opponents carrying slings on their injured arms — a efficiency that earned her the nickname “the arm collector”.
“They could have tapped to stop the fight, but they didn’t, so I went through with it,” she stated.
‘A part of the sport’
In her hometown, Karim initially skilled in taekwondo and jiu-jitsu earlier than discovering MMA at highschool in Islamabad — to the consternation of her neighborhood again dwelling.
On this {photograph} taken on December 11, 2024, Anita Karim, warms up earlier than a coaching session at a membership in Islamabad. — AFP
“A lot of people close to me criticised me, but that’s part of the game. Now they know how it works,” she stated.
The message emanating from her hometown now’s considered one of pleasure.
“The way she has made the name of Gilgit-Baltistan and all of Pakistan shine on the international level, serves as a lesson,” stated the regional authorities’s sports activities chief Shah Muhammad.
After dropping on her skilled debut in 2018, the place the referee refused to let her struggle until she raised her leggings above the knee, she moved to Thailand to coach at an MMA academy.
She now earns a dwelling from competitors prizes, modest authorities grants and training at her Islamabad fitness center.
When she returns after competitions, small crowds collect to greet her on the airport and she or he is adopted by a fledgling neighborhood of feminine fighters.
They too need to flip skilled in a nation the place just one in 5 ladies have jobs, in line with United Nations figures.
“Anita is a role model for us,” stated Bushra Ahmed, a couple of years Karim’s junior and out of breath as she trains alongside her, one other lady and a dozen males.
Karim additionally needs to “give Pakistani women confidence and self-defence techniques”, with over 80% having been victims of public harassment, in line with the UN.
Not too long ago she “hit a man who was harassing me in a market in Islamabad,” Karim stated
“He left with his face stained with blood.”
