I did not intend to have this long of a lapse between posts. I plan on shorter posts with more timely updates.
After the State reception, I have been spending a lot of time getting ready for Worlds. In addition to training about 6 days a week, in which each session lasts two to a few hours, I have been planning the logistics of the trip to France (the competition is being held at the Disneyland Paris venue). There have been a few bumps in the road, which took a lot of my time, but things are getting settled and I am able to focus a bit more on my training and recovery.
Here are links to the media coverage that I know of from my attendance at the State reception:
- 1. RU Entertainment has a nice piece here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXqHwbIS_CA
I am honored to be mentioned with the other athletes that attended the reception. - 2. General article about the State department and sports, the reception and my speech is mentioned in the Washington Diplomat: U.S. Plays Up Power of Sports In Win-Win Approach to DiplomacyBy Jacob Comenetz
- 3. Umar Waswasi, an upcoming journalist in Uganda (he is currently visiting the USA on a journalist exchange program, representing Uganda) also wrote a story on his blog:
http://umaruganda.blogspot.com/
CAIR Banquet. Washington DC, October 15th, 2011
I was invited to the CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) 17th Annual Fundraising banquet and was given an award (John Hancock award), on October 15th, so I flew back to DC again. They are the organization that sent out a press release on my story. Also in attendance and given awards were Rais Bhuiyan, Dr. Iqbal Yunus and Jeania Moore. Salma and Hasan attended with me. I almost did not get on stage for the award as we were 30 minutes late due to traffic and parking. As I have mentioned, no one seems to expect that I am “that weightlifter” so no one knew I was even there until near the end when I ran into the one who was presenting me the award. He notified the others, and I was presented the award on stage. I was happy to meet some of those who had known my story. One lady had a daughter who actually saw me when I walked in, and she told her mother that I was the weightlifter.
After the banquet, I got to meet Musadiq Bidar, who got into contact with me as he found my story and website. He works with the MBC Middle East Broadcast Corp, and they interviewed me. I will post a link to the video of that story when it airs.
IFT Banquet, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 16th, 2011
The next day was another banquet I was invited to in Toronto, the IFT (Islamic Foundation of Toronto) Annual Appreciation banquet where I was also honored with an award. The theme this year was sports. They also recognized service, such as Officer of the Year Award, Sergeant Ryan Russel, who was in the Toronto Police Service until his passing, who was honored. Mr Scott Eyers was awarded Firefighter of the year, Lorne Burns for Paramedic of the year. They all have given so much to the community. Sports awards were: Nour Kaiss an athlete with I-slam, a non-profit ball-hockey league, Leslie Woodyatt, who participates in 7 teams on the Special Olympics, Syed Hussain who is the Canadian National Champion for standing paralympic table tennis, Muhammad Mudasar, the Canadian national champion in Wheelchair Paralympic Table Tennis. Coach Debbie Carkner, a football (soccer) coach, Mr. Abdullah Sabree martial arts champion and teacher, I-Slam, a basketball program, the Madina Hockey League, the Islamic Soccer League, the Muslim Youth Soccer League.
They gave me the special opportunity to give remarks, in which I briefly told my story and events leading up to my situation now. Everyone was very supportive of me, and I am glad I got the chance to meet the community in Toronto. It is very diverse and they work together on many projects. I also got to meet my good friends, Shandana, Maria, and Nazerah who I do not get to see often. Nazerah took me to get Afghani food when she got me from the airport. YUM! BAMIYAN chappli kabob and grilled chicken. I am glad they were there with me at the banquet. They helped me pass out postcards, and helped me take pictures and video. I was asked for my autograph for some daughters. I would never have predicted that I would ever be asked for that. (Thanks to Eileen for the idea of making postcards with my picture to pass out v.s. a business card) It helps to give people a memento of myself, along with information and contact details on the back. Waris Malik, one of the organizers of the event, also helped and through his help, the IFT community and Mushtaq Sayed have generously donated for my trip to Worlds (total $5,500). I am happy about all the support people have given to me, and how grassroots efforts can go far. The support helps me focus more on training and recovery, as I handle many things myself (though I get help from friends, it is still a lot of work). Canadians are nice, EH!
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Please see my updated sponsor page for more detail HERE
Here are some pictures from the event:
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Full albums of pictures I have from that weekend:
CAIR Fundraising
IFT Appreciation Banquet
US Pak Foundation Youth Leadership Event Oct 22nd 2011
A trip to DC again, I just can’t get enough. This time it was a day trip, so I that I could get back to training and such. I was invited to be on one of the panels. It seemed like a very good conference, wish I had that when I was younger. Here is the program. I missed my 710am flight (I know, that hurt) by 2 minutes, so was put on the next flight which was 3 hours later. I made it to the hotel where the conference was being held, in enough time to eat and drink some coffee before my panel was up. I also met many great people. Thanks to Irfan Malik and the committee for arranging my trip and having me there.
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After my panel, I was interviewed by Malik Akbar from Dawn news. He is visiting the USA from Balochistan area of Pakistan as a Hubert Humphrey Fellow, and writing for a a few other publications. I am happy they are going to share my story, and my efforts with Worlds and representing Pakistan.
Getting interviewed by Malik Akbar for Dawn.com (Pakistan news)
Here is the album of pictures I have with my camera from this leadership event
2011 World Weightlifting Championships
Other logistics of Worlds, is competition and warm up clothing. Fatima, at Fringgi, has kindly has made a warm up jacket and track pants for myself and Travis (coach) in Pakistan colors, with embroidery of the moon and crescent (flag) on the front and the letters PAKISTAN on the back (insert a picture). The General Secretary of the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation, Hafiz Imran Butt, is planning to attend, pending a visitor visa to France. I hope he gets it as it will be great to have him there and meet him in person. He is planning to attend the opening ceremony and my competition.
How am I feeling? I do feel nervous. I am not definitely not in medal contention (there are many female competitiors that participate in weightlifting around the world), but the opportunity to be able to go and participate is awesome. I hope it will help encourage other women to participate in sports, and help open doors. Its about getting to the starting line, not the winner’s podium, as my friend Nadia says. Regardless, I am training as hard as I can, and hope to lift the best that I can. With all the positive energy, I feel like my training and lifts are getting better, and close to what I was lifting before. I am looking forward to meeting new people at worlds, and many who I have seen via youtube videos of their past competitions (and when others in my gym watch youtube videos, I don’t remember names, but I remember faces). I intend to take A LOT of pictures and as much video as I can.
If I don’t write again before Worlds because of my schedule, I will afterwards. Please keep me in your duas and thoughts.
The next competition I am going to try for is the American Open 2011. It will be held December 02 – 04, 2011 in Mobile, Alabama, United States.