Glamorous Muslim boxer making history at Commonwealth Games reveals why her faith made it very difficult for her to get into the ring in Birmingham – as the biggest fight of her life awaits
Tina Rahimi started boxing in 2017 when she was looking for a way to keep fit
She got on with it so quickly that she won a Commonwealth Games award in 2022
Sydneysider has revealed her struggle to combine her faith with the sport
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Tina Rahimi has taken a tough road to become the first Muslim woman to box for Australia at the Commonwealth Games – and now she has revealed the biggest obstacle to combining her faith with the punishing sport.
The Sydneysider will make history when she steps into the ring early Friday morning to compete in the 57kg division, despite missing the team’s Games camp in Sheffield earlier this year – with her coach’s blessing – as she and teammate Taha Ahmad Ramadan observed.
Rahimi, a former make-up artist, prays five times a day and observes the sunrise-to-sunset fast that her faith requires during the ninth month of the Muslim calendar — which is extremely difficult to combine with boxing training and weight requirements.
‘Because of Ramadan I couldn’t do the camp in Sheffield. There was no point in me going,” she told the… Sydney Morning Herald.
Rahimi will make history when she competes in the quarter-finals of the 57kg featherweight class on Friday morning, Australian time
Observing Ramadan made it “very difficult” for Rahimi (pictured during the opening ceremony) to prepare for the Games. She even missed a training camp while celebrating the holy month
‘Training in Ramadan is really tough. You train before you fast. Then you go to the gym an hour after you eat.
“You’re hungry, but you have to control your cravings with food because you can’t overeat, especially if you have a comp.”
“It was tough because I had worlds right after Ramadan this year, so I was working out and trying to lose weight. I missed the daily happenings and controlled myself with all the good food. It was quite heavy.’
When asked how she would deal with people who fight her because of her religion, she replied, “I’d say, ‘Do you have something to say?’ Then, whack!’
Rahimi first stepped into the ring at a gym in western Sydney in 2017, and by March last year she had progressed so fast that she won the Commonwealth Games Australia Emerging Athlete of the Month award.
“I love it, I love the aggression of it, I just love everything about it,” she explained.
“My mentality is that I always want to be ready for a fight. I’m not at all afraid of getting hurt.
“The whole point of boxing is to be smart. To hit and not get hit.
The former Sydney makeup artist has ‘spared with the boys’ and said she’d still come forward even if they hit her
Rahimi started boxing in 2017 after going to her cousin’s gym looking for a way to keep fit. He’s coaching her now and telling her to change the locks to keep her from overdoing it
“It’s not like pain that would make you want to give up. It actually motivates me even more, to be honest.
“If I get hit hard, you want to come back with a bigger shot. Always.
“I’ve always embraced physicality. I was never afraid of getting hit. I even talked to the boys and I got hit by a punch and came forward anyway.”
Her cousin and coach Muhummad Alyatim said she is such an enthusiastic trainer that they now have to change the locks on the gym to keep her from overdoing it.
“I felt she would be good for the gym, a great role model for the women, especially in physical sports. To keep himself strong and physically fit,” he said.
‘Tina has great discipline. We try to change the locks to keep her out of the gym, that’s the discipline she has in her workout.
“She’s mentally strong, physically strong — they’re a rare breed, so to speak.”
Rahimi was given a bye in the first round of the competition in Birmingham and will have her first fight in the quarter-finals, fighting at 4pm Australian time.