FAISALABAD – Pakistan has had some great women role models and they have struggled for every inch of the way and we are proud of all such Pakistani women. Without any doubt, Pakistani women are the most impressive and accomplished females on earth.
One such shining star of Pakistan named Sahib-e-Asra is not just killing competition but also breaking the stereotypes. She is Pakistan’s fastest female athlete and is a proud daughter of an imam (scholar).
Asra, who is a citizen of Faisalabad, started her career as an athlete runner back in school, taking part in division and district level competitions as much as she could. She also proved herself and started to sprint at province-wide tournaments. It is then that she truly arrived, as she bagged a gold medal in one of those tournaments.
Asra was a gold medalist before she started her professional career as a sprinter. She was intent on pursuing her passion despite the lack of resources for sportspeople in the country.
The young athlete was told that support for sportspeople in Pakistan was far behind even when compared to countries like Bangladesh, yet she remained determined to continue. Asra shared that her father, who is an imam, was rather supportive of her career as a sportswoman, despite what people could generally assume.
She also revealed that it was people that they knew, associates and acquaintances, that were opposed to the idea and tried to convince her father not to let her carry on with a career as an athlete. Asra said that her father paid no heed to the unsolicited advice and let her continue with her passion.
Qari Alam Khan is a proud father and he shared with a daily publication ‘Pro Pakistani’ that when her (Asra) school teachers told him that his daughter was a sprinter and a fairly good one at that, it made him happy.
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He said that while he was proud of his daughter he was let down that the government was not doing much for athletes.
“I am as proud of my daughter, as I am of my son,” said Qari Alam.
Liberation of women in Pakistan is a great challenge that cannot be taken for granted. It requires a collective effort by successive government and civil society. The government should provide more opportunities to the citizens so they can showcase their talents.
Asra is a role model for all those young women in Pakistan who wish to achieve big in life.
