Sharjah24 - AFP: Several Brazilian sumotoris women have promoted the practice of sumo, the national sport found in Japan, as women Sumo wrestlers insist that this kind of sport is just fuel for their fighting spirit when they get in the "dojo," or ring
If the phrase "sumo wrestler" calls to mind a hefty Asian man in a loincloth, Valeria and Diana Dall'Olio, a mother-daughter sumo wrestling team from Brazil, have a message: think again.
The Dall'Olios are used to people saying they are too small, too fragile or too female to practice a sport typically associated with hulking Japanese men.
But they say that is just fuel for their fighting spirit when they get in the "dojo," or ring.
"There's a lot of prejudice. When you say you practice sumo, some people think you have to be fat," Valeria, 39, tells AFP, as she prepares for a competition at a public gym in Sao Paulo.
"Women are always under a microscope in the martial arts, because they're sports that have generally been restricted to male fighters."
She got into martial arts as a girl, studying judo and jiu-jitsu.
In 2016, she fell in love with sumo, which was brought to Brazil by Japanese immigrants in the early 20th century.
Soon, she was winning bouts -- all the way up to the Brazilian national title, which she won three times (2018, 2019 and 2021) in the middleweight category (65 to 73 kilograms, 143 to 161 pounds).
She added the South American championship to her trophy case in 2021.
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