Wednesday, March 20, 2013

BBC News - Maria Toorpakai: The Pakistani squash star who had to pretend to be a boy

BBC News - Maria Toorpakai: The Pakistani squash star who had to pretend to be a boy: "Maria Toorpakai Wazir is a star squash player with a promising international career. Born in Waziristan, a highly conservative region of Pakistan, she had to disguise herself as a boy when she took up the sport - and later received ominous threats for playing in shorts.

"I am a warrior, I was born a warrior, I will die like a warrior."

Maria Toorpakai is courageous - and she's had to be, to play squash in a region where many girls live restricted lives.

When she was four, she put on her brother's clothes, cut her hair and took all her girly clothes outside and had them burnt.

"My father started laughing and said, 'Here we go, we have a Genghis Khan in the family,'" she says, referring to the Mongolian warlord of the 12th Century."

'via Blog this'