Back in the day, it wasn’t very often that we saw women picking a trophy for the country. However, things have changed and women today don’t shy away from proving their worth in any field. And sports is not sidelined either! While we know of female Guinness Record football player Al Hammadi, there are many such women who have quietly chased their dreams and lived it too.
Vatika and Curly Tales Dubai salute these women through a campaign called Vatika Voices. The initiative aims to shed light on women in GCC who have made the world sit up and take note. As part of the campaign, Zahra Lari- the world’s first skater to compete in a Hijab, caught up with CT Dubai in a friendly chat where she spills the beans about how it all started, challenges she faced and much more. Read on!
Child-Like Inspiration
Born and raised in the UAE, Zahra Lari is a professional skater who has competed in several international forums. However, achieving her dreams certainly wasn’t a walk in the park. It all started off when Zahra was 12 years old. After watching the Disney movie Ice Princess – Zahra urged her parents to enroll her in ice skating lessons. However, her parents were worried if Zahra would injure herself and thereby affect her performance in school. But, they realized she was very passionate about the sport and supported her. Three years later, Zahra mastered a whole lot of complicated spins and jumps.
Battling Challenges & Beating Obstacles
However, her father had reservations about Zahra pursuing skating as a career. Things were not easy when she started off because skating was not a sport opted by many, especially Emirati girls. Zahra’s father was worried about what people would say and perceive this. So he said she could train but not compete. Later when Zahra went to Dubai to cheer a friend, her father clearly saw her passion for the sport and how badly she wanted to be on the other side. That day, he gave her the permission to participate in competitions. Lari then went on to establish the Emirates Skating Club, which now has more than 100 skaters as members, ranging in age from three to 50.
“We’re from a desert country, so no one understood that it was a real sport. People had this misconception that it was dancing. I mean, when we land a triple jump, eight times our body weight is on one leg that is balanced on a four-millimetre metal blade” Lari told Harpersbazar Arabia.
On Being The First International Skater To Wear A Hijab
Zahra is the first international skater to compete wearing a Hijab. However, that did not come easy. Her days on the ice were never short of challenges. When she started off, she recollects getting deductions for being dressed in a hijab. At the 2012 European Cup in Canazei, Italy, Zahra was deducted points for wearing a hijab. It was not normal for the judges to see a skater in a hijab. She then went up to the International Skating Union (ISU) and campaigned for a change to regulations. ISU then assessed its costume rules and revised rules. In fact, later on, she also featured in Nike’s special Pro Hijab initiative- a campaign that supports women wearing hijab for sports.
“When I started, Arab women were not involved in sport, but now you can see an Arab athlete participating in most sports. The main struggle is that we still face being typecast globally. It will take time to change attitudes, but as we continue to participate on the world stage at high levels of competition, stereotyping will go away,” Zahra told the Harpersbazar Arabia.
Future Ambitions
Currently, she is busy focusing on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She wakes up everyday at 4.30 am and is on the ice practicing from 5.15am onwards.