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As the referee’s whistle signalled the start of the match, two five-year-old Iranian girls faced off, delivering a closely watched karate bout to a captivated audience \u2014 a sign of the changing attitude toward martial arts in the Islamic Republic in recent years.<\/p>\n
The two young opponents, clad in crisp white karategi with coloured belts and protective headgear, circled each other on the tatami, the floor covering used for practising Japanese martial arts.<\/p>\n
Their movements were sharp and deliberate, each kick and block executed with precision and control to the cheers of an all-female audience.<\/p>\n
At the final whistle, three minutes later, the two opponents shook hands and embraced.<\/p>\n
The match was part of an annual regional tournament that saw 230 participants of all ages gathered in Tehran, lining up in formation before the competition began.<\/p>\n
That AFP<\/i> was accorded rare access to film and photograph a competition for women and girls was itself a sign of greater official openness.<\/p>\n
“This sport is anything but violent” because it “promotes discipline”, said Samaneh Parsa, a 44-year-old mother who has been practising karate for five years with her daughter Helma and son Ilya.<\/p>\n
“I have observed its positive influence on children’s behaviour,” she said at a club in southern Tehran, where AFP<\/i> was granted a rare access to the prelude to the match.<\/p>\n
For her, karate is a way to “release emotions” and “bring serenity during stressful times”, even though it was long frowned upon for women to practise the sport in Iran.<\/p>\n
All martial arts were temporarily banned for women after the 1979 Islamic Revolution but were later reinstated under stricter dress code regulations.<\/p>\n
‘Strong mindset’<\/h2>\n
As more women turn to karate, the sport has become a symbol of Iran’s changing society, where a young, urban generation is quietly challenging traditional gender roles and societal norms.<\/p>\n
Last week, Iranian athlete Atousa Golshadnezhad won another gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Women in Iran have, in recent years, been pushing social boundaries more broadly \u2014 defying the Islamic Republic’s strict rules, including the mandatory dress code.<\/p>\n
The trend has been particularly evident since the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, who had been arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating the dress code.<\/p>\n
Afshin Torkpour, head of Kyokushin-Ryu karate in Iran, has similarly noted a shift in recent years, with women turning to sports that “were once considered violent”.<\/p>\n
Women practising the sport are now as, and often more motivated, said Torkpour, noting that they develop “a strong mindset”.<\/p>\n
Around 150,000 people practise karate in Iran across all genders, says Torkpour, who estimates that the actual figure could be much higher, up to two million.<\/p>\n
At the Asian Championships, the national junior women’s under-21 team won 11 medals, including six golds.<\/p>\n
In 2020, two Iranian karatekas participated in the Tokyo Olympics in Japan but did not win any medals.<\/p>\n
For Azam Ahmadi, a woman in her 30s who has practised the sport since she was 12, karate teaches essential life skills: “If you fall, you have to get back up, keep going, and never give up.”<\/p>\n
Mina Mahadi, vice-head of the women’s Kyokushin-Ryu karate section in Iran, says it also allows girls to “gain confidence” instead of them “saying yes to anything”.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n