Women boxers punch through social taboos in Sudan (Reuters)

By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sweat drips from Arafat Abkar’s brow as she dodges blows in an open-air arena in Khartoum’s searing summer heat. Wearing only shorts and a t-shirt, the 22-year-old draws crowds in a country where Muslim mores mean women’s boxing is a rare spectacle. “When I train, more spectators watch because women’s boxing is new and unfamiliar in Sudan,” Abkar said proudly at the private Nile Club in the south of the city.