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Scholars Digest

8-months-old Pregnant Combat Artiste, Aminat Idrees Scoops Gold Medal at a Taekwondo Festival

Aminat Idrees, an 8-months pregnant Nigerian combat fighter, achieved a remarkable milestone by defeating all other competitors and winning the Nigerian National Sports Competition while pregnant.

Aminat Idrees

Before being married in 2020, Aminat Idrees, who was competing for Lagos State, was a superb Taekwondo fighter. She explained that she should have taken part in the tournament before being pregnant, but it was postponed because of the lockdown at the time.

Despite being eight months pregnant, she shocked people all around the world by giving a great performance in the Taekwondo poomsae championship. She earned gold in the pair poomsae, silver in the group poomsae, and bronze in the solitary poomsae for her remarkable performance.

The Taekwondo Poomsae is a non-contact competition that features a series of coordinated techniques that simulate assault and defense.

Aminat Idrees gave an exceptional performance considering that she was pregnant, and as a result, she made international headlines. “I consider it a great privilege. I basically made the decision to do it after training a few times. It feels wonderful. I’ve always loved working out, so it didn’t seem any different throughout pregnancy,” Aminat Idrees told reporters.

She claimed that she prayed before entering the competition, asked her husband’s permission, spoke with her physicians, and then obtained Nigeria Taekwondo Federation consent.

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Aminat Idrees explained why she chose to take part in the competition: “I know that I can do it, so I chose to do it. There hasn’t been any trouble during or after training because I’ve been working out constantly. I believe in myself, so do my coaches. Despite being pregnant, I was prepared physically and mentally for the competition because it wasn’t a fight.”

Additionally, she continued, “the main poomsae events during the festival ran for around two hours, which is more similar to my typical training period, so it was just like any other training day.”

Aminat Idrees has won medals before, whether or not she is pregnant. She won gold in the team poomsae at the 2012 sports festival, her first major medal as a competitor under the age of 18.

Since then, she has won medals in kyorugi (fighting) and poomsae (demonstration) competitions at the IBILE Games, the yearly sports celebration of Lagos State, the Nigerian National Sports Festival, and the Korean Ambassador’s Cup.

Aminat Idrees spoke to ESPN and said, “This is not the first time I am winning medals in poomsae so they understood that I was experienced.

“If I were a novice, definitely [the decision by the officials to allow her to participate while pregnant] wouldn’t be feasible. But because it’s something I’ve been doing, they trusted me, she said.

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