In Karachi's Lyari neighbourhood, teenage boxer Hoorain Zahra trains in the footsteps of Aliya Soomro, who won an international bout in Bangkok last year, and Fatima Zahra, who became Pakistan's first female Commonwealth Games boxing medallist in Glasgow in late July, defying patriarchal norms that keep many Pakistani girls away from sport.
Why is it hard for girls in Pakistan to take up boxing?
Girls in Pakistan face deep cultural and safety barriers to sport, with prevailing norms suggesting they belong at home rather than in gyms or clubs. Many, like 13-year-old Hoorain Zahra from Karachi's Lyari, face social backlash and safety concerns just for leaving home to train.
Who are Pakistan's rising female boxing stars?
Soomro, 21, made national headlines last year after winning an international bout in Bangkok, a rare feat for a young woman from Pakistan. Women boxers recently captured the nation's attention again when Fatima Zahra, 22, became Pakistan's first female Commonwealth Games boxing medallist, winning bronze in the 60kg category in Glasgow in late July.
Thirteen-year-old Zahra, like Soomro, hails from the sports-mad Lyari neighbourhood in the port city of Karachi, a gritty community once haunted by gang violence and poverty. Like her idol, she is undeterred by the societal backlash.
"They (society) think it (boxing) is not for girls. They also think girls should not even go outside, because girls are not safe outside," the teen told AFP as she adjusted her black hijab. "But it is not possible to live without going outside, you have to go out."
What do Lyari's girl boxers say about training?
Around Zahra, other girls get ready for the class, peeling off their outer layers but remaining covered from head to toe in scarves, long-sleeve shirts and trousers. Their session is held in a modest room in a rundown Lyari building, with worn walls and loud, whirring fans that bring relief from the summer heat when power becomes available in the late afternoon.
Supervising them is coach Ustad Younis Qambrani, a grizzled 56-year-old who has trained dozens of young fighters since he opened up his boxing gym to girls more than a decade ago. "I believed women's boxing was very important for girls," Qambrani told AFP. "My two daughters were the first ones to begin women's boxing. The girls who train with us go outside with great confidence. They show great courage and are not afraid of anything."
How did Lyari overcome its history of violence to produce boxers?
The girls' struggle to leave their homes and find safe spaces to play sport is reflected in Lyari's own journey over the past few decades. Lyari was once considered one of Pakistan's most dangerous neighbourhoods, hit by an influx of weapons and drugs when Karachi was a major transport hub during the Afghan war against the Soviets.
A heavy-handed operation by paramilitary forces against the gangs began in 2013, with religious parties then filling the political vacuum. Those parties won the 2018 elections, and girls' activities were further restricted, with girls not even allowed to ride bicycles in some areas.
However, sport has continued to thrive within the deeply conservative community, with Lyari renowned for producing athletes, including iron-chinned girl boxers.
Do families support girls who want to box?
Some local parents, such as Zahra's and Soomro's, strongly back their daughters' determination to put on boxing gloves. Soomro, who hopes to build on her win in Thailand last year, believes girls have as much right as boys to take up sport.
"Our society regards girls as very weak. People think girls are weak and cannot do anything," she told AFP at a mixed-gender boxing arena down the road. "But I believe girls can do everything, sometimes even more than men."
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