Abrar Bukhari took home a bronze medal at the 10th annual Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships in Jordan after taking down her Emirati opponent, making it her first win of the tournament. For its 10th edition, the tournament was initiated by Jordan’s Prince Hassan bin Talal, who is also the president of the Higher Council for Self Defense Sports.
To celebrate her win, Bukhari took to Instagram to share the news with the caption, "Milestone achieved. Thanks for all who supported and believed in me you guys are my strength to keep going.. From family.. Friends.. Saudi TKD federation.”
The young Saudi female athlete also thanked her coaches and mentors for their support. Abrar also spoke about how the Saudi Arabian Federation for Taekwondo gave her the push she needed to be able to achieve her winning milestone. Bukhari has previously represented Saudi Arabia and scored a medal for the country as she participated in the 11th Arab Taekwondo Championships, taking home a bronze medal this April in Morocco.
Female Saudi athletes have been making history recently and have proven time after time that they can achieve anything. This year, we also saw Al Anoud Al Khalifi and Afnan Sabbagh become the first Saudi women to take part in the West Asia and GCC Weightlifting Championship and winning 12 medals at the international event.
Zahra Al-Qurashi, made groundbreaking history as she won Saudi Arabia’s first gold medal in kickboxing at the Open International Tournament for Clubs in Jordan this March as well as the kingdom’s female basketball team, who competed in the Special Olympics World Summer Games for the first time and bought home a gold medal. In October 2017, there came another groundbreaking moment for the future of Saudi women in sport as Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan became Saudi’s first female president of a sports organization that manages events for both men and women.
Ever since, Saudi Arabia has held major sporting events for women including its first women’s basketball tournament and all women run, giving women a platform to compete on an international level whilst representing the country.
