Ons Jabeur through to Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open quarterfinal against Elena Rybakina

ISLAMABAD: Growing up in the rugged northern reaches of Pakistan, Anita Karim honed her combat skills fighting with three older brothers who pulled no punches.

The bruising experience prepared her for a career in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) — blending Thai kickboxing, Japanese judo and wrestling — and she is now the nation’s pre-eminent woman fighter.

“The village where I come from, they support women fighters,” she told AFP. “But when I started MMA, they had no awareness of this sport.”

“They said it’s a men’s game exclusively and a woman cannot do that one,” the 28-year-old said.

Eight years ago she won the right to enter the ring, swiftly becoming Pakistan’s first internationally competing woman MMA fighter and appearing in Asia’s biggest promotion, ONE Championship.

“Now misogynistic comments and criticisms have stopped,” she said at her gym in the capital Islamabad, where she trains without heating in the octagonal “cage” where fighters face off.

It is unusual for women to take up sport in deeply conservative Pakistan, where it is often forbidden by families.

But Karim’s native Gilgit-Baltistan region — where female modesty codes are more relaxed — has become an incubator for women’s sport.

In October, two sisters from the region, Maliha and Maneesha Ali, brought back gold and bronze from a taekwondo competition in Indonesia.

Karim’s brother Uloomi, who became her coach after being on the receiving end of her blows, said support began at home.

“When she showed the commitment, the dedication, we knew that she was going to make it,” said the 33-year-old, standing in their family-owned gym.

“We knew that she could take it and we did not have any issues with her training with any guy.”

Surprisingly timid outside the ring, Karim is at the head of a cohort of Pakistani female MMA fighters — five from Gilgit-Baltistan, according to the regional government.

“She’s shy, but when she enters the cage, it’s completely different,” said Uloomi, who has also competed in the sport.

Her speciality is the armlock, deployed with an agonizing all-body grip, which aims to force an opponent to “tap out” in submission before bones are broken or joints wrecked.

In 2022 she was pictured atop a podium in Pakistan with two opponents wearing slings on their injured arms — a performance that earned her the nickname “the arm collector.”

“They could have tapped to stop the fight, but they didn’t, so I went through with it,” she said.

In her hometown, Karim originally trained in taekwondo and jiu-jitsu before discovering MMA at high school in Islamabad — to the consternation of her community back home.

“A lot of people close to me criticized me, but that’s part of the game. Now they know how it works,” she said.

The message emanating from her hometown now is one of pride.

“The way she has made the name of Gilgit-Baltistan and all of Pakistan shine on the international level, serves as a lesson,” said the regional government’s sports chief Shah Muhammad.

After losing on her professional debut in 2018, where the referee refused to let her fight unless she raised her leggings above the knee, she moved to Thailand to train at an MMA academy.

She now earns a living from competition prizes, modest government grants and coaching at her Islamabad gym.

When she returns after competitions, small crowds gather to greet her at the airport and she is followed by a fledgling community of female fighters.

They too want to turn professional in a nation where only one in five women have jobs, according to United Nations figures.

“Anita is a role model for us,” said Bushra Ahmed, a few years Karim’s junior and out of breath as she trains alongside her, another woman and a dozen men.

Karim also wants to “give Pakistani women confidence and self-defense techniques,” with over 80 percent having been victims of public harassment, according to the UN.

Recently she “hit a man who was harassing me in a market in Islamabad,” Karim said.

“He left with his face stained with blood.”

LONDON: Newcastle are back in the English League Cup final for another chance to end their 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy.

The Saudi-backed northeast club beat Arsenal 2-0 in the second leg of the semifinals Wednesday to advance 4-0 on aggregate. Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon scored the goals at a boisterous St. James’ Park.

Newcastle will play either Tottenham or Liverpool in the March 16 final at Wembley Stadium. Tottenham lead 1-0 after the first leg, with the return match at Anfield on Thursday.

For Newcastle, it marks another opportunity to capture a first piece of silverware since being bought by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in 2021. Newcastle’s last trophy was the now-defunct Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1969 and the most recent domestic title was the FA Cup in 1955.

Newcastle reached the 2023 League Cup final, but lost 2-0 to Manchester United.

“Play like that and we can dream big,” Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes said after the Arsenal match. “It would be amazing in my first season as the captain to lift a trophy, it is my dream.”

Arsenal arrived buoyed by a 5-1 thrashing of Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday and looking to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg against Newcastle at Emirates Stadium last month.

Mikel Arteta’s team failed to handle the lively atmosphere inside St. James’, with its usually solid defense looking fragile and almost conceding after just four minutes when Alexander Isak was played through on goal and finished into the top corner. It was disallowed for offside following a video review and the decision was announced to fans inside the stadium by the referee via a wireless microphone — a practice being trialed in the English League Cup ahead of use in the Premier League.

After Martin Odegaard hit the post for Arsenal, Newcastle took the lead in the 19th when Isak struck a shot against the post and Murphy converted the rebound.

Arsenal’s remote chances of a comeback were further hit when Gabriel Martinelli went off with a muscle injury before halftime, and Gordon virtually secured Newcastle’s place in the title match by scoring the second after Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was dispossessed outside his area by a sliding Fabian Schar.

The ball flew straight to Gordon, who swiveled and shot into the bottom corner past stranded goalkeeper David Raya.

Arsenal, two-time League Cup winners, were looking to reach the final for the first time since 2018, when it lost 3-0 to Man City.

Newcastle fans taunted Arsenal’s manager in the last few minutes, singing: “Mikel Arteta, it must be the ball.” It was a reference to Arteta saying after the first leg that the ball used in the League Cup was “very different to a Premier League ball” after his team missed several chances.

And Gordon appeared to deliver a post-match dig at Arsenal, whose players and fans had delighted in goading Man City striker Erling Haaland on Sunday for his “stay humble” comment in the previous match between the teams.

“It is important for us to stay humble now,” Gordon said ahead of the final. “It will be a big occasion but it’s so far away.”