Her mental strength was behind her decision to choose boxing as a sport and ten years earlier Nadia Abdel Hamid, who is now 25, decided to defy social norms and won her first national boxing title at 15.
“I felt I could prove myself through boxing. Spreading the culture of women's games is generally a motivator for practicing sports,” Nadia says. “Now we see women weight-lifting, boxing, wrestling.”
Nadia received several titles through her Armed Forces-run club before joining Egypt’s national team, where she won two bronze medals in Turkey and Tunisia. She ranked fifth in the world championship in China back in 2008.
Her excellence prompted the Armed Forces’ sports body to appoint her as the first female assistant boxing coach.
Nadia was selected for an Olympics scholarship in Hungary, where she graduated with excellence, again becoming the first female coach to acquire that certification.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
