ERBIL, Iraq —
In Iraq’s autonomous
Kurdistan region, sisters Ines, Israa and Oshin Muhsin
have inherited a hefty mantle from their late father, using it to take their
country to weightlifting glory.
اضافة اعلان
“We want to write the history of women’s sports and
preserve our father’s memory”, Ines told AFP.
At just 20, she already has six gold medals under
her belt, and along with her sisters she has helped place Iraq on the map of
Middle East weightlifting.
The regional capital Erbil hosted a championship in
December that brought together 14
Arab countries including Egypt and Saudi
Arabia.
The Iraqi women’s national team made up of 15
athletes, eight of them Kurdish clinched the top spot, with nine gold medals,
one silver and one bronze.
Ines and her sisters, all in their 20s, have been
practicing weightlifting for a decade, coached mainly by their father, who died
last year of Covid-19 complications.
At her club’s modest gym in Erbil, Ines gets ready
to lift a 30-kilo (66 pounds) bar, raising it high above her head before
letting the weights crash to the floor.
“We are already thinking of international
competitions and qualification for the
2024 Paris Olympics,” Ines said, adding
that the road to the Games would be “complicated”.
The trio
part of a generation born after their region first gained de facto
autonomy in 1991 need a translator to
communicate with their Iraqi Arab teammates, as they only speak
Kurdish.
Their bilingual mother does the job for local
competitions, while another club staff member takes up the baton for trips
further afield.
Sister Israa, a three-time gold medallist, said she
dedicated her achievements to her late father.
“When he was young, he was an athlete, then he
became a coach. It is thanks to him that I reached this level,” the 22-year-old
said.
“Before he passed away, he told me: ‘if I am no
longer there, I want you to continue and to participate in competitions, to
become famous and win medals’,” she added.
‘Blossoming of women’s sports’
Women’s sports have developed at a sluggish pace
across much of conservative Iraq, which has struggled through decades of
conflict.
But the Kurdistan region was spared the brunt of the
violence and destruction, and its infrastructure, facilities and government
funding have paved the way for a boom in professional women’s sports.
After the national team’s success at the Arab
championship, Kurdish regional President
Nechirvan Barzani met with
weightlifters from Erbil to congratulate them.
The club pays its athletes $150 a month, and covers
their equipment and competition expenses.
Little of such support exists elsewhere in the
country, where despite subsidies many see the youth and sports ministry’s
budget as largely symbolic.
The Kurdistan region’s “climate of freedom” for
young athletes and development of sports infrastructure “has contributed to the
blossoming of women’s sports”, said Jazair al-Sahlani, adviser to Iraq’s
Olympic Committee.
Wajed Wadi, one of the
Erbil weightlifting coaches,
noted the importance of the assistance.
“With support and the appropriate environment, a
promising, ambitious athlete can achieve something significant,” he said.
“That’s what happened in the Arab championship our athletes captured all the attention.”
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