ABU ZAABAL, Egypt—Four young Egyptian women, wearing headscarves, leggings and boxing gloves, punch and kick each other, encouraged by their female coach Samah Ahmed—founder of the Monsters Academy.
Ahmed, known to everyone as Coach Samah, started learning Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, five years ago after being sexually harassed, and now teaches the martial art to about 40 people, mostly women and girls, at her own training camp.
“Muay Thai turns every part of your body into a weapon: your elbows, your knees, your fists and even your chin,” Ahmed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from her one-year-old academy in Abu Zaabal, about 30 km northeast of Cairo, the capital city.
“Girl…
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