Last year, the World Pull-Up Organization was established as an international governing body for the sports of pull-up. According to its official website, its aim is “to bring the pull-up athletes of the world together and to develop one of the oldest exercises into a global sport,” one that essentially involves performing the maximum number of pull-up repetitions in one set, sometimes with added weights.
This week, the organization held its first-ever competition in Finland, with competitors coming in from a range of countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom’s Amal Baatia took home the bronze medal, beating stiff competition from 20 other female athletes. Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Baatia explained how she ended up participating in the championship.
“The World Pull-Up Organization contacted me in January 2019. I was then nominated to take part in the championship held in Finland last month. At the start, I was quite hesitant whether I should go through the experience or not. I sent the required details to them and they informed me on the conditions for taking part in the championship, including nutrition and exercise. I started preparing for the championship three months before its kick-off. It was a short time taking into consideration the importance of the championship, which always witnessed very stiff competition,” she said.
Baatia not only represented Saudi Arabia at the competition but she was also the only female Arab participant in the two-day championship. She joins a recent wave of female Saudi athletes taking home accolades for their achievements, from Dona Mohammed Al Ghamdi who took the winning title at the International Boxing Championship in Jordan in February 2018 to Raha Moharrak, the youngest Arab and first Saudi to conquer Mount Everest.
