Ruqsana Begum

Did You Know?

• Begum starred in a Selfridges advert titled 'Incredible Machines' in April 2016.
• She featured in a 30-second Adidas advert in February 2017 as part of the 'Unleash Your Creativity' campaign.
• In October 2016, she was named one of the 'Young British Muslim Millennials Changing The World' by The Asian Today.

Early life

Ruqsana Begum grew up in a strict Muslim household in Bethnal Green, London, as the second eldest of four children. Her family is of Bangladeshi origin; her paternal grandfather came from Sylhet Division to fight for Britain in the Second World War. Her father, Awlad, made leather jackets for high street stores as a tailor-cum-machinist, while her mother, Minara, was a housewife. Begum attended Swanlea School and took A-levels in art, history, Bengali, and media studies. After a period studying in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 2006, she earned a degree in architecture from the University of Westminster. She worked as a trainee architect until being made redundant, and remains a part-qualified architect. As a child, she played football, badminton, and swam, and was fascinated by martial arts from age five or six, inspired by Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee.

Professional kickboxing career

Begum took up a kickboxing class in 2002 at age 18, initially as a secret hobby due to concerns about family approval. She worked part-time in a chemist, attended university, and trained every Sunday. In 2006, after graduating, she told her family she was practising Muay Thai, having kept it secret for nearly five years; they did not try to stop her. She began fighting professionally in 2008. In 2009, she defeated a Malaysian opponent to win a bronze medal at the World Amateur Kickboxing Championship in Bangkok, Thailand. On 27 November 2010, she beat Paige Farrington to win the British Muay Thai Atomweight Kickboxing Championship Professional title in Doncaster. She is the only Muslim woman who is a national champion in her sport. On 31 July 2011, she won a gold medal at the European Club Cup Amateur Muay Thai Championship in Latvia, beating a Finnish fighter and then a Turkish fighter in the final. On 6 September 2012, she was nominated British Muay Thai Team Captain and won bronze at the IFMA World Championships in Saint Petersburg, Russia. On 13 April 2013, she fought Silvia La Notte for the ISKA World Championship; the fight was abandoned in the fourth round after she took a knock to the head. On 14 March 2015, she lost the ISKA Women's straw-weight world title fight against Ludivine Lasnier on points. On 7 November 2015, a WKA title fight was postponed due to a virus, and she later won the rescheduled bout against Susanna Salmijärvi on 23 April.

Other work

Begum works as a personal trainer and instructor. She gives free after-school Muay Thai classes every Monday at the Lions Den Gym in Chadwell Heath, London, and coaches ladies-only classes every Sunday. From 2006, she worked at an architectural firm in Epping Forest but lost the job due to the Great Recession. From 2009, she worked part-time as an unqualified science technician at Swanlea School. She is a boxing and Muay Thai coach for Fight for Peace, a charity using boxing to confront youth involvement in crime and gun violence. She is an ambassador for Sporting Equals, which helps ethnic minorities access sport. In 2015, she created a sports hijab for combat fighting sports, inspired by sprinter Ruqaya Al-Ghasra's struggle to wear a headscarf at the 2006 Asian Games. She launched her own line of sports hijabs in April 2016, with manufacturing outsourced to a factory in Pakistan.

Personal life

Ruqsana Begum lives with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, and has adjusted her training around a strict diet and regimen. In 2006, when she was 22, her parents arranged for her to marry Sayed Chowdhury, a banker from Barking. She then lived with her husband and his parents, balancing care for her father-in-law, who was on dialysis, with housework and her job as an unqualified architect. Eight months later, she collapsed one morning, spent two days in hospital, and was diagnosed with severe panic attacks. She returned to her parents’ home and spent months recovering in bed. Her husband filed for divorce in 2008. In March 2012, during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee tour, she met Queen Elizabeth II at Walthamstow Town Hall and received an Achievement Award for Breaking Down Barriers. On 21 July 2012, she carried the Olympic Torch in Greenwich, London. In 2017, she made a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.