Taoriba Biniati from Kiribati had never fought another woman before boxing in the Commonwealth Games
- From: news.com.au
- July 31, 2014
Ouch. Kiribati's Taoriba Biniati, left, fights Isabelle Ratna from Mauritius at the Commonwealth Games. Source: AP
BEFORE she stepped into the ring at the Commonwealth Games earlier this week, boxer Taoriba Biniati had never fought another woman.
The 18-year-old from Kiribati, a nation of just 100,000 people, learnt to box using a punching bag hanging from a tree. She is believed to be the only female boxer her nation has produced, and she only joined the sport last year.
The female boxer who had never been in the ring before #Glasgow2014 - meet Taoriba Biniati http://t.co/Ja8aWNNYQc pic.twitter.com/7K00lHl5rW
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 30, 2014“We advertised for a female boxer to join our club and maybe compete in Glasgow,” Derek Andrewartha, who’s deeply involved in Kiribatian boxing, told the BBC.
“We laid on food and drink and thought there would be queues of girls, but we waited and waited. A couple of weeks later, a government minister turned up with this little girl and said she’d like to box.
“I hit her in the face, not hard, and said, ‘How did that feel?’ And she said, ‘Fine.’ She comes from a very poor family, but she’s a lovely person.”
Meet 18-year-old Taoriba Biniati - the only female boxer from Kiribati #Glasgow2014 http://t.co/VP2zaR72QZ pic.twitter.com/7zZFIwwNXr
— Daily Record Sport (@Record_Sport) July 24, 2014The problem with being your nation’s only female boxer is that there are no other women to practise against. According to Andrewartha, Biniati has been fighting men and boys from the start.
“She has to spar with the boys, and the problem is they’re too shy to hit her,” he said. “I wish they would sometimes, it would wake her up. But she does the best she can with what she has and trains as hard as we want her to.”
Accompanied by her coach, compatriot and former Commonwealth Games boxer Tarieta Ruata, Biniati travelled to Glasgow without ever having set foot in a proper ring. Andrewartha secretly hoped she wouldn’t be allowed to compete.
“I hoped she wouldn’t make the weight and be pulled out,” he told the BBC.
#71club highlights... Kiribati's first and only female boxer, Taoriba Biniati, with team official Derek Andrewartha pic.twitter.com/AHEPWyBdl3
— Ollie Williams (@OllieW) July 29, 2014He didn’t get his wish. At the last minute, with the help of some timely protein drinks, Biniati managed to reach the 67kg weight requirement. She was well beaten by Mauritian Isabelle Ratna in her bout this week, losing in a unanimous points decision, but she certainly wasn’t shamed.
“She’s just a bit sad,” Andrewartha said afterwards.
“She’s done a great job for her country in her very first fight and her hope is that more girls will come after her. I thought she was awesome.”
