Afghan boxer Rezai reveals how she was forced to flee Afghanistan due to Taliban threat

After receiving death threats from the Taliban, female Afghan lightweight boxing champion Seema Rezai was compelled to flee Afghanistan in order to pursue her passion for sports. Rezai, a member of the national women's boxing team, told Sputnik that she left her hometown alone, without her family, in order to continue her boxing career.

Rezai said,

"When the Taliban seized Kabul in mid-August, I was at boxing training with my coach. But then some people told the Taliban that there is a girl who trains with a male coach, and they sent me home a written warning about the need to stop training or continue boxing in the United States, promising to kill if I do not agree to do so."

Rezai flew to Qatar and is now waiting for a US visa

Rezai flew to Qatar on an evacuation aircraft and is now awaiting a visa to the United States, where she intends to continue her athletics career, according to Sputnik. Rezai began boxing professionally when she was 16 years old. Her coach purchased her training equipment due to her family's hostile attitude towards her passion. Meanwhile, the Taliban has declared that only women who wear the hijab and adhere to 'Sharia Law' will be allowed to attend school and work.

Due to Afghan society's typically negative attitude towards women, the athlete said that boxing in Afghanistan, even under the previous administration, was a huge difficulty for a woman. As a result, the Afghan federations and Olympic committee have never been able to raise funds for women's teams to compete in international events, according to Sputnik.

Rezai made it into Afghanistan's national boxing squad and is still undefeated

Rezai defied her parents' wishes and became a fighter. She even carved her way into the sport, claiming that her coach was initially hesitant to coach a girl because it was not common for an Afghan woman to be in a sport like boxing. She made it to Afghanistan's national boxing squad six months later and is unbeaten, two years later. Seema Rezai told the New York Times that she got into boxing after watching former UFC wrestler Ronda Rousey's fight. 

(Inputs from ANI)

Image: @SeemaRezai/Twitter, Unsplash