The world of martial arts has been opening up to female fighters only recently. While famous mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and ex-judoka Ronda Rousey paved the way to the ring for generations of fighters internationally — de facto changing a very macho environment — in the Arab world the concept of a female fighter is still something new.
Yet it is the very traditional Morocco that is producing a number of female champions, in many different martial arts disciplines. Perhaps this is because Morocco promotes martial arts. The Union of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Martial Arts and Combat Sports, which was established in 2014 by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, actively promotes, develops and protects the interests of this sport.
During the Islamic Solidarity Games 2022 in Turkey, Morocco secured 62 medals: 15 gold, 13 silver and 34 bronze medals. In June, the sport received additional attention when Moroccan boxer Aya Bozarhoun won the fourth title at the Muay Thai and Boxing Championship in France. The 11-year-old athlete has dominated several regional and national boxing and Muay Thai competitions recently, receiving praise from the president of the Moroccan Royal Federation of Kickboxing and Muay Thai, Abdelkrim El Hilali.
Hilali said that Morocco is proud that four athletes — two females and two males — qualified for The World Games in Birmingham over the summer. This came right after the announcement of the qualification for The World Games of female athletes Belouarrat Oumaima and Meriem El Mubarak, the first Arab girl who qualified for the 2017 World Games and awarded by King Mohammed with the Wissam Al Moukafaa Al Wataniya order of national merit in 2016.
Moroccan female athletes told Al-Monitor of the challenges they face in practicing martial arts.
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