Prime Highlights-
- Fawzy trained in Thailand for nearly seven years and competed in her professional fight there in 2023.
- The UAE Muay Thai Federation has encouraged greater inclusivity, growing the pool of female competitors over the past decade.
Key Facts-
- Lara Fawzy founded a women-only Muay Thai gym in Dubai to give women a safe, empowering space to train.
- The gym aims to help close the gap in women’s Muay Thai representation across the region.
Background-
Lara Fawzy has built a women-only Muay Thai gym in Dubai, creating a space where women build strength, confidence and self-defence skills. Fawzy, who was born in London and moved to Dubai nearly 15 years ago, discovered Muay Thai through the city’s active sports scene and has trained in the discipline for close to a decade.
Fawzy overcame a serious arm injury from a 2016 sports event through months of dedicated training and recovery, and went on to win her first amateur fight soon after. The injury made her more determined and later inspired her to open the gym.
She launched the gym after noticing a shortage of women coaches and private training spaces for women in the sport. Fawzy has trained extensively in Thailand, spending nearly seven years there and competing in her professional fight in 2023, bringing that expertise back to Dubai while keeping training safe and rigorous.
Students such as sixteen-year-old Dania SaifEldawla say the sport has boosted their confidence and self-discipline, while coach Mohaddeseh Moradi joined the gym after arriving in Dubai for a competition.
Fawzy said the UAE Muay Thai Federation has encouraged greater inclusivity for women in the sport over the past decade, leading to a larger pool of female competitors. She said her gym aims to help close the gap between where women’s Muay Thai stands today and where it can grow in the region.
For Fawzy, the sport represents self-development, discipline and personal growth, offering women both physical strength and valuable self-defence skills.
