Wrestling with their limitations

"There are about 20 of us in a small hall here, and you feel like we're all looking out for each other," Rodaina said.

Her mother, Rasha Mahmoud, said the club provides the space and the coach, but families are strained covering almost everything else.

"Rodaina might enter three championships in one month. Three registrations, three weigh-ins, three stays. I pay for that," she said.

For older athletes like Nadia Hazem Mahmoud, 20, now in her second year at university, the barriers are also social. "People say: 'How can a girl do wrestling?' I've taken it up as a hobby. And, when I felt I was achieving things in it, I loved the sport," she said.

The strength they gain from the sport also helps the girls protect themselves mentally and physically, Rasha said.

Wafaa'i said Rodaina's success had helped attract younger girls, building a base of more than a dozen trainees under the age of 12, providing a positive outlet for them in their low-income neighborhood.

Egypt sent 148 athletes to the Paris 2024 Olympics and won three medals in pentathlon, fencing and weightlifting. But in El Mansoura, far from the Olympic ceremonies, the future of women's sports still depends on clubs like al-Shal.

As Rodaina put it: "I started here, so I want to finish here. I want to say I brought an African medal from al-Shal club."

Reuters