Fuelled by passion, fighting for respect: Meet World Kickboxing Champion Farinaz Lari

Farinaz Lari is gym owner, personal trainer, coach, professional fighter, and a world kickboxing champion- the first Iranian woman to win the World kickboxing championship.

Farinaz Lari grew up in Tehran and although she dreamed of becoming a martial artist, she was not allowed to pursue the sport because “it wasn’t right for girls.” At age 18, she used her wages from her retail job to take a fitness kickboxing class and she fell in love.

“It was it was a kickboxing class with a few girls and a female instructor. It wasn’t really serious. And again, at that time it most women were focused on getting fit. After the first session, I was like, ‘Okay, so how do you fight? How do I learn how to fight?’ And then people said, ‘You’ve got to get a male instructor because women don’t teach fighting only men do’.”

She was determined to throw herself into the sport and become a fighter, and convinced one of Iran’s top coaches Ali Khanjari, to take her on. She began competing and eventually fighting for Iran in international competitions. Fighting for Iran meant doing so in a hijab with arms and legs covered. Female athletes were treated with less respect and Farinaz remembers a time when the president of the federation told her she couldn’t fight because he didn’t like her attire. Farinaz and her family moved to Canada.

“When you move to Canada as a permanent resident, you are still a citizen of another country. So as a citizen of Iran, I was still with the national team of Iran. But I was a permanent resident in Canada working. So every time there was a fight, I was called in for the training camp and then sent off with a team in order to compete, and then I would come back. And that was till October 2013.” In 2014, I become a Canadian citizen. And that’s when I wanted to switch teams.
In 2013, managed to become the first Iranian woman to win the WAKO world kickboxing championship in 2013. In 2014, after her win, Farinaz became a Canadian citizen and wanted to join Team Canada. Iranian officials responded by accusing her of treason, and handing her two suspensions that left her unable to fight for four years.

“There was always this tension of women shouldn’t be talking. They shouldn’t be having opinions. So I think that bothered them was the fact that I was special, you know, and they were trying to make it make me not very special, making me feel like I don’t have a chance if I’m not with them.“

“I was always angry, I was always so mad at what happened, there wasn’t a day that I wouldn’t think about it. But I put all of that energy into training. I was constantly exercising constantly sparring constantly, you know, trying to up my game. My biggest motto is just to be 1% better than yesterday.”

Her passion for the sport and a determination to prove herself, kept her motivated to continue training so she’d be in prime condition when the restriction was lifted.

Farinaz is now a member of Team Canada and fights professionally. In 2016, she was the Canadian National Amateur Flyweight Muay Thai Champion. She owns and operates District Warrior, a kickboxing and Muay Thai training studio, with her coach (and now husband) Ali.

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