Game changer: extreme heat stifles women's sports in Pakistan

Women battle extreme heat as they push to keep playing sports against all odds in Pakistan's sweltering Sindh province

KARACHI - Pakistani student Aqsa Shabbir is hot, tired and frustrated. A keen field hockey player, she can no longer train during the day because of a brutal heatwave, she can't sleep at night and she fears she will not play well in a tournament at the end of June.

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Two years ago, Jacobabad was named the hottest city on earth after temperatures reached 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit). This year, as a heatwave seared southeast Asia, temperatures shot up to 52 degrees Celsius (126 Fahrenheit) in May.

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Rising temperatures are one more barrier for women and girls who want to stay active in a country where there are few training spaces available to them, apart from private sports clubs reserved for the wealthy.

A 2022 study found that the main obstacles to participating in sport in the Muslim-majority country are "religious and cultural limitations, a lack of permission from parents, and a lack of sports facilities and equipment".