Twenty-one year old Sarah Nasir is the only female karateka from Pakistan to have earned a gold medal in karate at a recognised martial arts competition such as the one held at the South Asian Games in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February, 2010. Sarah bagged a gold in the -53kg kumite (sparring) and bronze in kata (imaginary fight routine) events there. A student of the Shotokan style, she earned her black belt at the age of eight.

How did it feel to win the gold medal? It felt wonderful, it still does. I had worked very hard for it.

And has your life changed in any way after the triumph? Hardly. I still get scolded by my mother at home for being careless about housework, if that is what you mean.

Have you featured in any other event after the South Asian Games? Well, I also got a gold and silver medal at the National Games held in Peshawar last December. The gold was in the individual kumite event in the -60kg category and the silver in team fight.

When did you decide to take up karate? It was more of my mother’s decision than my own when I first started at the age of three. My first school at the Tareel village in Punjab where we lived had introduced optional karate training for pupils and my mother got me enrolled.

Later, I started enjoying it too and became part of the group at school which wanted to take up the sport more seriously. So serious were we about karate that our group would train first thing after reaching school to join regular classes later in the day. I had earned my black belt by the time I was promoted to class four.

What dan (black belt rank) have you reached now and in what style? I’m still black belt first dan as I didn’t appear for the next certification exam due to my studies. And we are talking about the very hard and serious Shotokan style of Japanese karate here.

What are you studying? Is your study schedule disturbed often due to your involvement in the sport? I recently gave my B. Com papers and hope to do my masters in business administration. For me, my studies come first so I opt out of tournaments if they clash with my exams or study schedule.

And when do you train? I run a lot to keep fit. Of course things become more hectic before a tournament. We start training a month or two ahead with three-hour drills in the mornings and more exercises in the middle to taper the activity to minimal in the end in order to avoid injuries before the actual event.

Have you received any injuries as yet? Several—including hurting my eardrum once. But injuries are all part of the game.

Are you satisfied with the importance and support given to karate and karatekas by the government in Pakistan? Well, what can I say? I wish we could train internationally to hone our skills. It can happen if the government and federation support us.

What is the difference between training here and training internationally? We do what we can here but it can’t equate with training abroad and participating in as many foreign tournaments as we can. International exposure is extremely important. Interaction with foreign martial art bodies and featuring in their events also helps one learn new techniques, not to mention keeping abreast with the changing rules.

Do you represent any department in domestic events? I am a contract-based Army employee so I represent my department at local events. I joined army in 2004 when karate was included in National Games for the first time and Army was making a team to take there. That’s when I appeared for trials and got selected.

So how were you selected to represent Pakistan in the South Asian Games? Yes, the next step was to get the Pakistan colour, which wasn’t so easy. But I really wanted to represent my country. I outdid myself during the camp held in preparation for the South Asian Games, so much so that I thought if I didn’t the get the colour I would say goodbye to the sport altogether. Thankfully, I made it and, well, you know the rest.