Sydney: A struggle ended successfully for a Muslim teenage boxer, as she won her right to wear a hijab in the ring.
17 year old Raianne Alameddine felt lost after she was banned from fighting last year because her hijab which was labelled as ‘unsafe’ and her leggings which covered her knees were deemed to be a ‘hazard’
“I signed up to my first boxing match almost a year ago and prepared for four months prior to my fight. However, two weeks before we got a letter saying we weren’t allowed to fight if we wanted to wear our hijabs under our head gear, or if we were to wear skins that covered our knees,” Alameddine was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail Australia.
However Raianne did not stop there but continued her training and fortunately she was given the green signal to fight, last week. Last Saturday she became the first amateur boxer in NSW to fight wearing a head scarf.
No winner was declared because the fight was an exhibition match, but 600 people watched the bout.
“It is a ‘massive relief and thrill’. The fact I came out safe and there were no hazards with me fighting with my scarf on, proves it should be allowed all around the world,” relieved Alameddine said.
Starting her career in boxing Raianne priorly took training at Sydney’s Final Round Gym. She fell in love with the sport as she watched UFC fights on television, and then trained under Hassan El-Achrafi.
Raianne currently works as a part-time trainer at Final Round Gym and said her family were hugely encouraging of her choice to fight.