Sarah Avraham

Sarah Avraham (שרה אברהם; born 1993/1994) is an Indian-born Israeli Muay Thai kickboxer. She converted to Judaism and moved to Israel after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Avraham was the 2012 Israeli women's champion in Thai boxing, in the weight class. She is also the 2014 World Muaythai Federation pro-am women's world champion in the 57–63.5 kg (125–140 lbs) class.

Early life

Avraham was born in Mumbai, India, to a Hindu father who is a physician, Dr. Aaron Avraham, and a Christian mother who was a nurse. , she was 20 years old.

Her first and last names are the names of the world's first Jews, Sarah and Avraham, who are believed to be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. In India, she was school champion in track and field.

Mumbai attack

In Mumbai, her family was close friends with, and her father was family physician to, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife, Rivka, who served as Chabad emissaries.

The two were killed in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, by terrorists who attacked the Mumbai Chabad House where the couple served as emissaries. Avraham said that at the time of the attack: "We didn't know that there were terrorists in Chabad House. We called and called, but Gabi and Rivka didn't answer, and then suddenly we saw on TV what happened there". Avraham was 14 years old at the time.

She and her family were drawn so close to the Jewish people that in the wake of the attack and the killings of their friends they converted to Judaism, and immigrated to Israel one year after the attack.

Immigration to Israel

They settled in the West Bank/Judea Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, south of Jerusalem, on the outskirts of Hebron, where she now lives. Noting that while in India it was risky to leave her house after 8 p.m., Avraham said: "I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world ... here I feel safe and happy. People here helped us very much. I will live here for my whole life."

Her father began working in the Intensive Care Unit of Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot. He now works as a physician at the Bnei Brak Hospital and the Kiryat Arba Medical Center.

She is now a religious Orthodox Jew, and studies in the ulpana, a religious school for Orthodox girls, in Kiryat Arba. Avraham also volunteers as a firefighter, and has taken part in scores of firefighting operations.

Avraham doesn't see herself giving up boxing, but said: "When I grow up, I might want to be a doctor, like my father." She also wants to eventually become a full-time firewoman.

Thai boxing career

While studying at the religious girls school in Kiryat Arba, Avraham decided to take up sports.

Fitness trainer Michael Pollack, from the Jewish neighborhood in neighboring Hebron, integrated her training with kickboxing. He put Avraham in touch with Thai boxing coach Eddie Yusopov, who became her trainer.

Avraham trains in Muay Thai boxing five times a week, at the boxing center at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium. As is the case with most Israeli athletes, she does not receive any funding. To pay for her training (NIS 230 a month) and trips abroad for competitions, since she does not like to ask for money ("I still remember how we had nothing when we got here"), she cleans houses and also works as a dog walker and waitress. In addition, Avraham hitchhikes to her practices in Jerusalem, as she does not have money to take the bus. Because she is religious, she brings kosher food with her when she travels to fights.

2012 Israeli Champion

In September 2012, a year after she began training professionally, Avraham won the Israeli national women’s Thai boxing championship in her weight class of 57–63 kilos (125–140 pounds), at the age of 18.

Pollack said: "She draws her strength from where we live in Kiryat Arba. This gives her an inner strength that explodes in the ring." As to her skills, he observed: "Sarah has tremendous legs and she's flexible – she reaches the head with her kicks. It's very impressive when Sarah goes into battle."

2014 World Champion

In early 2014, while still in high school Avraham won the Women's World Thai-Boxing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, in her 57–63 kilos (125–140 pounds) weight class.

Her trainer is still trying to work on one aspect of her approach, observing:

Before fights, Sarah makes friends with her opponent. She goes over to her, hugs her. I tell her she can hug afterward, not during the competition. She can say hello as one athlete to another. But that's the way she is.

That's what I want to get out of her, for her not to be so naive, for her to be nasty in her approach and in the fight itself.

Avraham said, smiling: "What can I do? I'm nice, I love everyone. But what happens outside the ring doesn't affect what happens in it."

Thai boxing has not been recognized as an Olympic sport, but efforts are being made to change that before the 2016 Olympic Games.

See also

  • List of select Jewish mixed martial artists