Taboos KO'd by Pakistan's mother-daughter boxing duo
Banu was drawn into the ring last year, after watching the grand funeral of legendary boxer Mohammad Ali
In this photograph taken on October 6, 2016, 19-year-old Pakistani boxer Razia Banu (L) throws a punch at her mother Haleema Abdul Aziz during a practice session at the Pak Shaheen Boxing Club in Karachi. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
Slim, powerful, and with an unwavering gaze, 19-year-old Razia Banu jabs at the face of her opponent -- her own mother, a widow inspired to join her daughter in smashing taboos in Pakistan's sultry port city Karachi.
Banu was drawn into the ring last year, after watching the grand funeral of legendary boxer Mohammad Ali.
He was "my favourite personality", she told AFP after "losing" to her mother, pointing with a smile to a small framed poster hung on a pillar that read Ali's famous "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".
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She went to her mother to seek permission to join the club, started just last year, the first for women in all of Pakistan.
Haleema Abdul Aziz worried about her daughter's request. There were financial considerations -- her husband had passed away five years back, and she was struggling to afford even school fees for her children.
The violence weighs on Aziz.
"I believe that all the males become beasts when a woman goes out alone from her home," the 35-year-old single mother says.
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"But I did not disappoint her (Banu) because I wanted her to be successful in her life."
Her husband was a good man who encouraged his daughter to take part in sports, she says. Yet Banu echoes her mother's wariness when it comes to men and violence.
"Males think that they are strong so they could beat females and force them to be confined to the home," she says.
Her passion -- and penchant for practising at home -- soon inspired her mother also, who followed her daughter in joining the club.
Banu leaves home early every morning for her job as a receptionist in a school, before going on to college, where she studies commerce.
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She reaches the boxing club in the evenings. There she drills: punching bags and balloons, skipping rope, then practise bouts with some of the other 20 young girls who make up the club.
The club is sparse, its facilities comprising the ring, three punching bags, and a boxing balloon in a corner. Money, says the club's founder and coach Yunus Qanbarani, is tight: few of the boxers can afford to even pay their fees.
Then there is the social backlash. "At one point, some people plotted to attack the club to force me to close it down. But I am determined to carry on," he says.
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Qanbarani, who has been a boxing coach for 40 years, has sent his own two daughters and other women from his family to be trained at the club.
"I want our daughters to go to the international level and hoist the Pakistani flag in foreign lands," he vows.
Pakistan's boxing community agrees, with former boxers who competed internationally visiting the club regularly to offer encouragement.
The support inspires Aziz and Banu to new heights.
Aziz plans to become good enough to coach girls herself one day.
Banu aims even higher.
"I wish to box in the Olympics -- and not just participate, but to win the gold," she says, her eyes sparkling.
"I will keep striving for my goals. The hard work does not go waste."
Slim, powerful, and with an unwavering gaze, 19-year-old Razia Banu jabs at the face of her opponent -- her own mother, a widow inspired to join her daughter in smashing taboos in Pakistan's sultry port city Karachi.
Banu was drawn into the ring last year, after watching the grand funeral of legendary boxer Mohammad Ali.
He was "my favourite personality", she told AFP after "losing" to her mother, pointing with a smile to a small framed poster hung on a pillar that read Ali's famous "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee".
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She went to her mother to seek permission to join the club, started just last year, the first for women in all of Pakistan.
Haleema Abdul Aziz worried about her daughter's request. There were financial considerations -- her husband had passed away five years back, and she was struggling to afford even school fees for her children.
The violence weighs on Aziz.
"I believe that all the males become beasts when a woman goes out alone from her home," the 35-year-old single mother says.
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"But I did not disappoint her (Banu) because I wanted her to be successful in her life."
Her husband was a good man who encouraged his daughter to take part in sports, she says. Yet Banu echoes her mother's wariness when it comes to men and violence.
"Males think that they are strong so they could beat females and force them to be confined to the home," she says.
Her passion -- and penchant for practising at home -- soon inspired her mother also, who followed her daughter in joining the club.
Banu leaves home early every morning for her job as a receptionist in a school, before going on to college, where she studies commerce.
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She reaches the boxing club in the evenings. There she drills: punching bags and balloons, skipping rope, then practise bouts with some of the other 20 young girls who make up the club.
The club is sparse, its facilities comprising the ring, three punching bags, and a boxing balloon in a corner. Money, says the club's founder and coach Yunus Qanbarani, is tight: few of the boxers can afford to even pay their fees.
Then there is the social backlash. "At one point, some people plotted to attack the club to force me to close it down. But I am determined to carry on," he says.
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Qanbarani, who has been a boxing coach for 40 years, has sent his own two daughters and other women from his family to be trained at the club.
"I want our daughters to go to the international level and hoist the Pakistani flag in foreign lands," he vows.
Pakistan's boxing community agrees, with former boxers who competed internationally visiting the club regularly to offer encouragement.
The support inspires Aziz and Banu to new heights.
Aziz plans to become good enough to coach girls herself one day.
Banu aims even higher.
"I wish to box in the Olympics -- and not just participate, but to win the gold," she says, her eyes sparkling.
"I will keep striving for my goals. The hard work does not go waste."