In Dushanbe it is no different and for the first time in history a Pakistani woman competed at an IJF event. Malaika Noor is nineteen years old, a law student in her home city of Peshawar, Pakistan, and she travelled alone to participate in this 2024 Dushanbe World Championships Juniors.
“Judo is my passion and I want to compete. I lost my fight in Dushanbe but I gained a lot of experience. There is clearly a big difference between their training and ours and I came to learn that. I will be better prepared after this, for the next time."
"Usually it’s just the men who travel for judo, so I am the first woman to come to an IJF event. My mother was a sport teacher and is now the school principal and she understands sport and the need for experience. She and my father gave the permission for me to travel here. We asked the Pakistan Sports Board and the Pakistan Judo Federation for permission and they supported us so I am here.
This is the first time I have fought outside Pakistan. I’m the best junior woman in Pakistan with a gold at the national championships and silver at seniors last year. So I wanted to experience the best event possible and that’s why I came to Dushanbe.
I am a law student at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Peshawar so I am trying to manage my full time studies with training every day. I train with the national team and my coach had some good experience internationally; he knows how tough it is. He provides a lot of information and inspiration. Last year I met Sabrina Filzmoser in Peshawar when she was on her ‘ForeverEverest - K2’ mission. It was a great occasion and also inspired not only me but many women in Pakistan."
A reminder of some of Sabrina's Pakistani adventure: https://www.ijf.org/news/show/k2-in-focus
"I need to train harder now and prepare for the South Asian Games in February. There is a possibility it will be held in Pakistan which would be ideal. If it is, there we will have a full Pakistani team there, men and women. Sometimes we train with the men; the two teams are doing more together these days and I think it is helping us to be stronger.”
Malaika is on her way back to Pakistan but with a lot of new information, the kind of education only judo can give. She’s in ground-breaking territory and has shown women in Pakistan that it is possible to reach for the stars in sport.