Rabat – Moroccan boxing Khadija Mardi was not paved with flowers, the first Arab and African to win the title of world champion, but lived through failures, setbacks and disappointments before succeeding in achieving a historic achievement for Moroccan, Arab and African women's boxing.
The 32-year-old Mardi won this title after winning the final against her Kazakh rival Kongibayeva Lazat, to win gold in the world super-heavyweight championship (more than 81 kilograms) in the Indian capital.
King Mohammed VI sent a congratulatory message to this world champion, in which he praised her tireless efforts to achieve this global achievement with all merit, thus embodying the brilliant presence of Moroccan women's sports continentally and internationally.
She says patients to Al Jazeera Net, "When I was in the ring was two scenes motivate me not to give up and fight for the last second: the image of my mother, may God have mercy on her and the joy of the Moroccans."
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Mardi's absent mother has been a strong presence in all her fights since she died, in October 2014, when she watched her from the stands at a match of the Mohammed VI International Boxing Cup in Marrakech.
The mother's heart could not bear the joy of her daughter's victory, so she fell unconscious in the stands and was taken to the hospital, where she died, amid the shock of the audience who attended the match.
"Before kick-off, my mother encouraged me with her words as usual and told me: 'I want to rejoice in your victory, I dreamed twice that the king was wearing a medal after you got the gold.'"
These last words were a strong incentive and motivation for patients to complete the tournament, which raised the astonishment of the fans at the time, as the young woman wiped her tears and buried her sadness for a while and played the next day the semi-final match and then the final, and was crowned with gold fulfillment to achieve her mother's dream, she stops for a moment and adds, "My mother died because of joy, she left me happy and proud of me, so I played with full strength to achieve her dream."
However, after the end of the tournament, the patients suffered from severe depression for 6 months, and did not come out of it until after follow-up with a psychiatrist and the support and support of her family, and she rose from her ashes stronger like a phoenix to resume participating in tournaments.
Motherhood is not a hindrance
Motherhood and family responsibilities were not an obstacle for patients as she continued her passion and passion for boxing that she inherited from her father, but she worked hard and with the full support of her husband and family to commit to training and taking care of her daughters.
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Al-Mardi has three daughters, Elham, Fatima Zahra and Sultana (3, 12, 7.1 years old).
"It is very difficult for a woman to be a boxer in world championships and at the same time, but thank God that my family is by my side, and the support of my husband, father, sisters and stepmother as well," she said, explaining that after each birth, she resumed training, participated in tournaments and achieved positive results.
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Mardi won the Moroccan championship several times, and competed in the African Games with the team in Rabat in 2019 and succeeded in snatching gold, and in the same year she was crowned bronze in the weight of less than 75 kilograms at the World Championships in Russia in a historic achievement for the first time for Moroccan women's boxing, then silver in the weight of more than 81 at the World Championship Istanbul in 2022, and gold in the African Championship "Maputo" (the capital of Mozambique) 2022.
Olympic Gold
On the podium, the patients recalled a long path of hard work, disappointments, successes and moments of forced away from boxing.
She tells Al Jazeera Net "to be a world champion is not easy, so my joy was very great, I remembered all my path, this is the sixth world championship I participate in, and after I was ranked fifth, and after I got bronze and silver, I crown today with gold," she added, "I was very happy because I achieved my mother's dream and delighted all Moroccans."
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"The achievement of the Moroccan national football team in the Qatar World Cup gave us in the boxing team an incentive to work more, to pursue our dream as well, and to face the strongest boxing schools such as Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, surpass them, win gold and achieve the dream," she concluded.
The consequences of her caesarean section for the birth of her third daughter prevented her from participating in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after the medical staff decided not to approve her participation in that session for fear of serious problems if she received a blow over the belt by the opponent, but her goal now - after winning gold at the World Championships - is to achieve gold at the Olympic Games to be organized next year in Paris.