Fatima Hassan (left) after the announcement of her victory over her Vietnamese opponent during the IFMA championship, in September 2026, in Kosovo. (Credit: Photo published with the athlete’s kind permission)
Crowned double world champion in muay thai last September in Kosovo, Fatima Hassan, 27, is the first Lebanese athlete to win two gold medals in the discipline. “I got sick during the tournament, but I fought through it,” says the athlete, who knocked out her Vietnamese opponent in the third round of the senior world championship organized by the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) and secured first place in muay thai technique against an Albanian competitor.Originally from Baalbeck, Fatima Hassan started martial arts at a very young age, encouraged by her father, who practiced karate himself. “My father started training me when I was little. He taught me the basics to defend myself,” she explains. With a degree in interior architecture, Fatima took up muay thai at 20 but had to put her sporting career on hold for...
Crowned double world champion in muay thai last September in Kosovo, Fatima Hassan, 27, is the first Lebanese athlete to win two gold medals in the discipline. “I got sick during the tournament, but I fought through it,” says the athlete, who knocked out her Vietnamese opponent in the third round of the senior world championship organized by the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) and secured first place in muay thai technique against an Albanian competitor.Originally from Baalbeck, Fatima Hassan started martial arts at a very young age, encouraged by her father, who practiced karate himself. “My father started training me when I was little. He taught me the basics to defend myself,” she explains. With a degree in interior architecture, Fatima took up muay thai at 20 but had to put her sporting career on hold...
