Boxing against all odds

Aliya Soomro from Lyari boxes like a champion and dreams of winning an Olympic gold for Pakistan one day.
Published November 24, 2019

This film by Fahad Kahut, Ahsan Khan and Saad Abbasi won the third prize of Rs200,000 in Dawn.com and Deutsche Welle's video story contest, #ItHappensOnlyinPakistan on the theme #OurDiversePakistan.

Aliya Soomro from Lyari boxes like a champion and dreams of winning an Olympic gold for Pakistan one day. This fast-paced film has many a inspirational lessons for aspiring athletes in the country.

Boxing against all odds is a story of passion and fire well told but equally fiery visuals and super paced editing that compliments the narrative itself. Many stories about talent hailing from Lyari have been told in the recent past but this retains its freshness with its unique approach to the subject." — Babar Sheikh


It Happens Only In Pakistan is a nationwide video story contest organised by Dawn.com and Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany's international broadcaster. This time, the theme for the contest was sharing stories under the hashtag #OurDiversePakistan, and invited filmmakers from all over Pakistan to submit short documentary-styled videos that captured stories of unsung, unique Pakistani heroes. Jury for the contest included noted Pakistani documentary filmmakers Jami and Babar Sheikh. The contest accepted entries from July 5 to August 25, 2019.