Saudi Arabia gets its first female international Karate judge

JEDDAH: Earlier this month, Nada Al-Mashat was announced as the first Saudi woman to become an international Karate judge in the sport’s history and also the Kingdom’s history. She follows in the footsteps of her mentor Mushrif Al-Shihri, who is president of the Saudi Karate Federation and was the first Saudi man to become a world Karate judge.

Her ambition and persistence in the martial art for almost a decade led her to gain this accolade, and she told Arab News that she was “glad and proud” for the honor.

Nada Al-Mashat told Arab News in 2020 that her interest in karate had been inspired by Prince Sultan bin Salman’s space mission.

She praised the “amazing” support from Al-Shihri and expressed her gratitude for his eagerness to develop Saudi Karate judges through courses and tournaments, and for always being with them in all their achievements.

Al-Mashat, who turns 33 this year and has a bachelor’s degree in medicine, has always been ambitious about Karate and fell in love with it while she was doing a master’s in the UK in 2013.

She was keen to build and improve her skills through training with Karate experts.

“I started practicing with a Karate group led by a 3rd Dan black belt Sensei coach, and my skills were improving quickly. In 2017 I decided to take one-to-one private classes with an 8th Dan black belt Sensei, and that was a game-changer in my performance and martial arts journey.”

She took part in the first Saudi ladies’ Karate tournament in 2019, which took place in Riyadh, and came top in the kata category.

Al-Mashat told Arab News in 2020 that her interest in Karate had been inspired by Prince Sultan bin Salman’s space mission.

“The prince’s space experience has filled (me) with ambition and