When she was younger, sporty Malaika Zahid from Quetta was very much into climbing trees, scaling walls, cricket and football. But, knowing how much her father loved boxing, she became totally drawn into that sport.

Then she got so involved in boxing that it was only a matter of time before she ditched everything else, except for her education. “I used to see how excited Baba would be when watching boxing matches on his mobile phone,” Malaika, 19 now, tells Eos. “I would also be by his side, watching the bouts with him.”

Seeing her enthusiasm for boxing prompted her father to take her to a boxing club, despite her mother’s reluctance, fearing her daughter might break her nose or scar her face. The Atta Muhammad Club was run by Malaika’s father’s friend Atta Muhammad Kakar, and it was a boxing club for boys. Malaika at nine became the only girl throwing punches there.

“No girl in Balochistan was interested in boxing other than me,” she says. “In fact, I am the first woman boxer from Balochistan. So, as a kid, while I practised at the club, my father used to make sure he was there the entire time. He would sit there watching me practise for hours.

Nineteen-year-old Malaika Zahid is the first woman boxer from Balochistan and already a five-time national champion. She has her sights set on a very long career…

“And my poor mother, well she would be home praying for my safety. I did get punched in the face and everywhere. But, quite frankly, I’m used to taking punches. It doesn’t bother me. It is all part of this sport.”

Obviously, Malaika’s mother does not have Malaika’s nonchalance about such matters.

“Moving on from the initial stages of my practice, my mother has become worse — now she fasts on the day that I fight,” Malaika laughs. “Still, like Baba, Mama also supports me with all her heart and wants me to follow my dreams,” the five-time national women’s boxing champion adds.

“My parents’ support has made me thick-skinned. Earlier, when other girls used to stare at me and comment on my boxing, Baba used to tell me not to pay attention to them. I have also stopped bothering about people staring at me or talking about me now. Their comments don’t matter. I matter. Nothing should stand in the way of my becoming the top female boxer in the country and beyond,” she says.

Such is Malaika’s dedication to the sport that when her long hair was coming in the way of her sport, she had it cut short. “Baba supported me there as well,” she says.

Out of Muhammad Zahid’s three daughters and one son, Malaika was the only one to get into boxing. “My sisters are both younger than me and they are not interested in sports,” she says. “My brother is older than me by a year. Earlier, he did accompany me to the boxing club, sometimes, but he outgrew the sport soon. He is far more interested in trains and in his studies.

“Actually, he has also inherited this interest from our father, as Baba serves in the Railways Police,” she shares, adding that she has also not given up on her education for the love of boxing.

“Education is one thing our parents have always stressed on. I just completed my first year of pre-engineering,” she says.

Meanwhile, her boxing accolades continue to pile up. They include many titles, such as national gold medalist (several times), provincial gold medalist (twice), All Balochistan gold medalist (six times), Millennium Best Child Award (thrice), FC Operational Excellence awards, other excellence awards, youth awards and best female player awards.

Malaika’s boxing has also landed her a contract with the Pakistan Army. “I feel very proud to be representing the Army. It has a good sports department. Earlier, I was too young to get a permanent job with the Army but, now that I’m 19, I hope to be made permanent. Then I will also get an Army uniform,” she says proudly.

She also feels happy to represent Balochistan during the annual National Boxing Championships and is a five-time national champion. “I have remained unbeaten for the past five years in my flyweight category,” she says, adding that she has thus far only represented Pakistan once internationally. That was in the Asian Youth & Boxing Championship in Jordan in 2022, where she lost at the quarter-final stage.

“Had I reached the semi-finals, I would have earned a bronze medal for Pakistan,” she says.

Asked if she is supposed to wear shorts and a vest when competing abroad, Malaika says that there are no restrictions as far as sports gear is concerned. “Muslim girls are allowed to wear tights under the shorts and also wear an undershirt inside the vest. The gloves and the head guards we all wear. So we all look like boxers,” she laughs.

Malaika says that she has so far beaten all the female boxers in the country, including the Hazara girls from Balochistan and the Lyari girls from Karachi, so there is no woman boxer in particular here whom she looks up to. She is a fan of Pakistan’s Mohammad Waseem though.

“Before you say I’m being biased because he also hails from my city Quetta, I’ll tell you that I like his quick style in the ring,” she says.

“My family may have settled in Quetta because my paternal grandfather was posted here, but we are originally from Azad Kashmir. We still go there to stay with relatives during holidays,” she shares.

Coming to her international boxing favourites, she brings up the professional American boxers Ryan Garcia and ‘Tank’ or Gervonta Davis. “Tank has recently also converted to Islam,” she informs me.

When asked about her future, she gets a dreamy look in her eyes. “There is so much to do. I want to turn professional too, one day. But before that, there are the Olympics, the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games…”

The writer is a member of staff. X: @HasanShazia

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 23rd, 2024