The girl from Tavush who “breaks” stereotypes

 Many people learned about 19-year-old Ani Yeganyan, who lives in the Tavush region of Armenia, from a recent video posted on the Internet, where she breaks six stacked stones with one blow of her hand, thus “breaking” the bias towards girls in martial arts in Armenia.

“It was my second attempt to break a rock. I broke three stones for the first time in April of this year. Encouraged by that success, my coach Edgar Tumanyan and I decided to try to break 6 stones on May 22. I really wanted to prove to everyone and myself that I can. I managed to do that. The audience was a little surprised. “After the video was released, many people started posting to my page on the Internet as ‘strong’ girls,” said Ani Yeganyan, an athlete in aikikendo.

She says that she wanted to do karate from an early school age, but she was able to do it only at the age of 15, at the cost of overcoming many problems and obstacles and hard work. The news of a 15-year-old girl practicing karate was not welcomed by the family and the people, to put it mildly.

Persistent with overcoming petrified stereotypes, Ani today combines karate with the “fine” art of design, trying to convince by her example that a girl can do any art, including martial arts, that her chosen sport is also an art that creates the soul, mind and body. requires harmony… And most importantly, helps a person to improve himself, fight and win…

Now Ani is a first-year student of the “Applied Art and Design” department of YSU Ijevan Branch. At the same time, she is engaged in active civic activity, has volunteered for several NGOs.

She says, I will do everything to overcome the biased mentality and stereotypes towards girls.

Not all the plans for Ani’s sports progress are personal, she thinks he needs to find a sponsor who will be ready to equip the Ijevn karate club with the necessary sports equipment, which will allow her to realize many other plans.

Full text in Armenian