In Algeria, a 15-year-old girl, Cerine Kessal, is dreaming of better feats than the Paris 2024 gold medalists Imane Khelif.
Khelif has had a major impact in Algeria, with gyms across North East African country, witnessing flood in membership by girls and women.
Despite the gender controversy, Khelif has emerged as a trailblazer for women and girls to take up the sport.
“I want to compete in African and world championships,” Kessal told AFP, speaking in a blend of Arabic, French and Tamazight, the language of the Amazigh people, also known as Berbers.
Her coach, Djaafar Ourhoun,said Khelif had become “a role model for the other boxers at the gym”, after winning her local club, Jeunesse Sportive Azazga, its only medal at a recent national championship.
The small gym, refashioned from a former municipal slaughterhouse with the help of local families, now trains 20 women boxers,” he adds.
The young girls have sparked competitiveness even among their male counterparts.
“I want to be like Imane Khelif and win an Olympic gold medal,” said Kessal.
Clubs like Dream Team and Sidi Ayad Boxing Club has witnessed the spike in women and girls’ boxers.
“Imane Khelif brought so much to women’s boxing,” Lina Debbou, a former boxer and now sports adviser, said. “More girls are joining the sport thanks to her.”
“We first tried introducing women’s boxing in 2006, but it was not successful due to the region being conservative,” Mohamed Benyacoub, the director of local club Ennasr, told AFP.
“We first tried introducing women’s boxing in 2006, but it was not successful due to the region being conservative,” Mohamed Benyacoub, the director of local club Ennasr, told AFP.
Now, “the women’s sports movement began to revive,” he said, adding that Khelif had “shattered the taboo that women can’t box”.