Pakistani Tribal Girl Who Became a Squash Champion

At the age of 11, Maria Toorpakai Wazir would often engage in brawls with boys her age in the streets of South Waziristan, a tribal region more known to the world these days for being a notorious hideout for pro-Al Qaeda militants. Nearly three years later, she has become Pakistan’s national women’s squash champion. Maria is now settled with her family in Peshawar, after moving out of South Waziristan. According to family members, hot-headed Maria never hesitated to fight boys on the street but her Peshawar-based father, an auto engineer.