Tina to defend Aussie title win

Well on her way after winning a Bronze Medal in the Women’s Featherweight Division at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, she is now focused on the Australian Championships in Adelaide from November 16-19 where she hopes to retain her Australian Champion title and qualify for the World Championships in India in March ahead of the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
Rahimi only took up boxing after doing a box-fit style class at a gym to lose weight about five years ago.
“I just fell in love,” she said.
“I didn’t even know you could compete. I only knew of Mike Tyson. I didn’t know there were actual local competitions until I went to one and I was like ‘Oh my God, this is so exciting’.”
The sight of Australia’s first Muslim woman competing in a hijab delivered a powerful image and Rahimi hopes her historic medal win will be a call to Muslim women to follow their dreams.
She hopes her success can show others that how you look or dress doesn’t matter.
“It all comes down to how hard you work, how disciplined you are, and how bad you want something,” she said.
Having just returned from a training camp in Brisbane with the country’s best boxing athletes in every division, she feels ready to take on the world’s best again.
“The World Championships are bigger than the Olympics because every country gets to take part with prize money such as US$100,000 for a gold medal win,” she said.
“I’m really proud to have gotten this far and will just keep going for it.”