Farid WALIZADEH

Farid arrived in Portugal in 2012 after being separated from his family when he was a child in Afghanistan and spending years alone in Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. He began taekwondo and kung fu at age 10 in Turkey, and has described how it not only helped him deal with the trauma of his past, but also at times protected him from people who wished him harm.

When he arrived in Portugal, he started boxing and achieved really good results quite quickly. After claiming the title of 2013 Portuguese National Champion for the -57kg category, the Portuguese Parliament awarded him the Human Rights Prize. He now follows very intense training under the supervision of his coach, Paulo Seco, who runs one of the smallest boxing clubs in Lisbon.