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Muslim female athletes shine at Asian Games
This welcome is like icing on the cake after our victory, Pakistan's gold-medal winning team's captain Sana Mir said. AFP Photo
GUANGZHOU: Back home, the Pakistani womens cricket team is not as well-known as their illustrious male counterparts.
But after their gold medal triumph at the Asian Games, the girls in green were basking in the spotlight for a change. It was Pakistans first Asian Games gold medal in eight years a milestone that supporters say points to the need for more education and opportunities in sports for women in Muslim countries.
Our media doesnt give womens sports that much coverage, as much as they give to mens sports, said Pakistan all-rounder Nida Rashid. There are so many sports in which women participate in Pakistan, like squash, table tennis and volleyball, but they go unnoticed.
I belong to Abbottabad where girls are not encouraged to take up sports leave alone cricket but my family was supportive and made it possible for me to play cricket and study as well, Sana Mir, captain of the Pakistan womens cricket team told Reuters after a triumphant return home on Sunday.
I hope our victory will serve as a catalyst for womens sports in Pakistan.
The womens team, wearing their green team blazers, were garlanded and showered with rose petals in a rousing welcome at Karachi airport after winning the gold medal in a one-sided final against Bangladesh on Saturday.
This welcome is like icing on the cake after our victory,Mir said.
Pakistani media greeted the gold medal as a victory for women in the country.
We never dreamt one day womens cricket would be acknowledged this way, said Mir. The day we won the medal I called up my family to thank them for their support.
The fact that we have played regularly since last year in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments and against better opposition has helped these girls gain confidence, said Bushra Aitzaz who heads the womens wing in the PCB.
The Asian Games, an Olympic-style event drawing athletes from a collection of countries representing two-thirds of the worlds population, is the biggest stage for many of the female competitors.
In parts of the continent, resources for coaching, training and competition generally lag behind the funding set aside for male athletes.
Pakistan came to Guangzhou with 25 female athletes out of a total of 169, participating in cricket, judo, shooting, squash and sailing.
Iran sent a womens team to compete in kabaddi.
War-torn Afghanistan has seven women in its 67-member delegation, all of them competing in martial arts events. Saudi Arabia has 170 men and not a single woman.
In comparison, host China, a sporting powerhouse that has invested heavily in developing elite athletes of both genders, has 458 women and 507 men.
There still needs to be more work toward educating females, educating their families to make them feel that is it OK to represent their countries abroad, said Basma Ahmad Essa, a taekwondo athlete from the United Arab Emirates. Were not disagreeing with any laws of Islam or things like that, that a lot of conservative people might put as obstacles in front of players.
Essa, 26, added that a lack of awareness about female participation in sports was also hampering development.
Weve started looking at the West and trying to get the best out of them, and trying to apply it within our countries, she said, sweat pouring off her face after beating a Nepali opponent.
One pioneering womens squad has been taking the field in Guangzhou with traditional Muslim head coverings, showing that religious obligations can coexist with sports.
The world has developed and it is time for women to take their place, said Maryam Ahmed Al-Suweidi of the Qatari handball team, just one of two female Arab teams in Guangzhou. The other is the football team from Jordan.
Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, a Kuwaiti, said 80 percent of the west Asian national Olympic committees had females participating in Guangzhou.
For many of these athletes, its the first time in this environment, he said, predicting that the number of female athletes from conservative countries would continue to swell. This will continue to improve.
The handballers are young and their inexperience has shown during lopsided losses to Taiwan and Kazakhstan, but Al-Suweidi says its just the beginning, noting that participation in womens sports has been on the rise in her home region.
Of course all people like to take part in sports I do not believe there is any obstacle at the moment against women taking part in sport in the Arab world, she said confidently.
Pakistan cricket captain Sana Mir noted that her squad used to just compete against womens teams but now also play mens under-19 and under-25 sides.
I think if women in Pakistan are given opportunities to play sports with proper coaches and facilities, theres no reason why they should not perform not only at Asian Games but also in major international tournaments, she said. I believe if you do something with honesty you can gain a lot in the field of sports.
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