Despite obstacles, women’s wrestling team in Iraq finds success — both on the mat and off

[SocalDinar]

Despite obstacles, women’s wrestling team in Iraq finds success — both on the mat and off

 

WITW STAFF

11.02.18

1/9

 

 

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI FEMALE WRESTLER ALIA HUSSEIN ATTENDS A TRAINING PRACTICE AT A GYM IN DIWANIYAHH. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI WOMEN’S WRESTLING TEAM COACH NEHAYA DHAHER TALKS TO PLAYERS DURING A PRACTICE SESSION AT A GYM IN DIWANIYAHH, SOUTH OF THE CAPITAL BAGHDAD, ON OCTOBER 7, 2018. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI FEMALE WRESTLER ALIA HUSSEIN POSES WITH HER CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION AWARDED BY THE LEBANESE WRESTLING FEDERATION, AFTER WINNING THE SILVER MEDAL DURING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD IN LEBANON. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI FEMALE WRESTLER ALIA HUSSEIN ATTENDS A TRAINING PRACTICE AT A GYM IN DIWANIYAHH. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI WOMEN’S WRESTLING TEAM COACH NEHAYA DHAHER TALKS TO PLAYERS DURING A PRACTICE SESSION AT A GYM IN DIWANIYAHH, SOUTH OF THE CAPITAL BAGHDAD, ON OCTOBER 7, 2018. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

IRAQI FEMALE WRESTLER ALIA HUSSEIN POSES WITH HER CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION AWARDED BY THE LEBANESE WRESTLING FEDERATION, AFTER WINNING THE SILVER MEDAL DURING THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD IN LEBANON. (SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

(SABAH ARAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

An Iraqi women’s wrestling team has proven an unlikely success story in a conservative region that historically has loved the sport — if only when men compete in it. Nehaya Dhaher, a 52-year-old sports teacher and trainer at a athletic club in Diwaniyah, was surprised but excited when the Iraqi Wrestling Federation asked her if she would help create the country’s first women’s squad. She started the squad off with five volunteers from her local club. Today, the team boasts 20-odd members who ranging in age from 15 to 30.

“Recruiting wasn’t a problem,” recalled Dhaher. “On the other hand, it’s been difficult to convince society because our traditions aren’t really headed in this direction.”

The Al-Rafidain — a team name that translates to “the two rivers,” in reference to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that give life to the region and once served as the cradle of civilization — initially faced opposition from locals who felt it was scandalous for women to be involved in sports at all, let alone one as physically involved as wrestling. But over time, Dhaher said, the team’s efforts at outreach paid off and Diwaniyah residents began coming out in numbers to support their women at tournaments.

“Here, the tribes rule the lives of all. I’ve received direct and indirect threats but we’ve managed to win respect,” Dhaher said. “We’ve built bonds of trust with the wrestlers’ families. We look after the girls, picking them up from their home before practice and returning them afterwards. We even follow up on their schooling.”

The team’s success has also contributed to their popularity. Alia Hussein, 26, won a silver medal in the under 75-kg category at the Women Classic International Tournament in Beirut in September.

“We’re sure of what we do, so people can say what they want,” said Hussein’s adoring mother, showing off a home covered in her daughter’s trophies. “We haven’t done anything wrong, so no one has the right to say anything.”

Watch video of the Al-Rafidain below

 

 

https://womenintheworld.com/2018/11/02/despite-obstacles-womens-wrestling-team-in-iraq-finds-success-both-on-the-mat-and-off/

Edited November 2, 2018 by SocalDinar

[SocalDinar]

Grappling with taboos, Iraqi women join wrestling squad

By Reuters - Nov 15,2018 - Last updated at Nov 15,2018

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Alia Hussein, of Iraq's first women's wrestling squad, exercises during practice at the sports club in Diwaniya, Iraq, November 10 (Reuters photo)

DIWANIYA, Iraq  — The toughest fight that Iraqi freestyle wrestler Alia Hussein ever faced was convincing her family that women should be allowed to grapple.

The 26-year-old student was a keen cyclist and basketball player, but when she told her family last year that she wanted to try her hand at the physical world of wrestling she was met with abuse.

"I was humiliated and even beaten by my family, but I defied them all," Hussein told Reuters.

"I feel that I can express myself through this sport. I wanted to prove to society that wrestling is not confined to men only and that Iraqi women can be wrestlers and can win and fight."

On the blue mats of the Al Rafideen Club in the conservative city of Diwaniya, some 180 km south of Baghdad, Hussein trains three times a week with 30 other female wrestlers, some still wearing headscarves. When a big competition comes up, they train every day.

In September, Hussein won a silver medal in the 75 kg freestyle category at a regional event in Lebanon and gold at a local tournament in Baghdad.

"I faced opposition from my family at the beginning, but after my participation in Baghdad and Beirut tournaments they started to encourage me, thank God," Hussein said.

This is the second attempt by the Iraqi Wrestling Federation (IWF) to grow women's wrestling, this time prompted by the threat of a ban by the sport's global body if they did not.

The first ended when the club in Diwaniya was disbanded in 2012 after complaints from the local community that the sport was in defiance of local traditions and culture.

The IWF has managed to recruit 70 female wrestlers who train at 15 clubs across the country, a spokesman for the body said. Each is entitled to a payment of 100,000 Iraqi dinars ($84) a month, but the money has stopped for the last three months as the IWF invests in a new wrestling hall in Baghdad.

Despite the financial offer, recruitment is tough.

Nihaya Dhaher Hussein, a 50-year-old school teacher, is the driving force behind the burgeoning team in Diwaniya which started in 2016. 

She drives the squad to practice, trains them and undertakes the dangerous task of convincing families to let their daughters, sisters or wives wrestle.

"A woman wrestling is alien to our conservative tribal society," she said. "The idea is hard to accept. It was so difficult to attract girls and convince their families.

"I was threatened myself by a brother of a player who verbally abused me and tried to hit me. It is so difficult to bring them to training and return them to their houses."

http://jordantimes.com/news/region/grappling-taboos-iraqi-women-join-wrestling-squad

[Jaygo]

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