Martial artist Saar-rah Karriem, 20, is making strides and has been placed third at the South African Boxing National Championships in KwaZulu-Natal.
Saar-rah from Lotus River started mixed martial arts at a young age, but transitioned to boxing last year.
She has been competing for six years and has been crowned the South African Kickboxing RCFA Champion, Western Cape Provincial K1 Champion and also came third at the South African Boxing National Championships.
She was born into the sport as her father is a professional coach, but says the main reason she does martial arts is for self defence.
“It is like therapy to me, I have been in a lot of fights in the street and especially primary school because they used to bully my younger brother and I never liked that, so I was always the one to step into a fight.”
The South African Boxing National Championships took place from 3-6 July in Durban.
Saar-rah says: “I learned a lot. It was quite challenging and a lot happened behind the scenes but I enjoyed it and look forward to doing another one but aiming for gold. I would love to be a world champion and be the best in my division and take over all the belts.”
She is a student at Unisa where she is completing her degree in teaching and she is also a qualified personal trainer, training younger children in kickboxing and jiu jitsu.
Her dad Zain Karriem, 45, who is a coach on the Western Cape Boxing team has travelled and lived abroad to further his training in Thailand and Malaysia holding many qualifications in boxing, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA and kickboxing.
He says of his daughter: “Saar-rah made the transition from kickboxing to boxing a little over a year ago and her growth has been phenomenal in boxing already.
“I believe Saar-rah can go very far in boxing if she remains this focused and does not allow any distractions during her boxing journey.”
Meanwhile Saar-rah’s younger brother is also a national champion in kickboxing in the U17 category and her two younger siblings of 12 and 10 are also former district champions in kickboxing.