Malala Got Married and Started New Project with Husband Asser Malik, Encouraging Women's Sports

Growing up successful Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai did not person easy entree to sports. By comparison, her husband, Asser Malik, whom she joined successful November 2021 after an initially concealed courtship, could play hockey, shot and cricket during his recess astatine nan all-boy's schoolhouse he attended successful a different area of nan country.

Their disparate experiences — and a shared passion for sports — led nan mates to recovered Recess Capital, a patient they launched successful January to put successful women's sports astatine nan master and amateur levels.

Yousafzai, a celebrated acquisition activistic and nan youngest-ever victor of nan Nobel Peace Prize aft surviving a Taliban assassination effort arsenic a teen, says nan project's sanction was calved from their desire to reimagine schoolhouse recess clip for girls.

While nan 28-year-old is well-known astir nan world arsenic an advocate, immoderate mightiness beryllium amazed to study she and Malik, 35, are some sports fanatics.

It was sports, aft all, that helped bring them together.

"He [was working] successful cricket, and that was 1 of nan reasons why I was willing successful him, because I was like, each cricketer is simply a difficult and handsome feline to meet," she says successful an question and reply for this week's rumor of PEOPLE.

When they met successful nan summertime of 2018, Malik, 35, was moving arsenic a cricket head successful Pakistan and Yousafzai was a student at Oxford University successful nan U.K. Their narration overcame agelong distance, nan world COVID-19 pandemic and taste pressures. (Love marriages, for illustration theirs, are still frowned upon passim Pakistan.)

Yousafzai credits Malik pinch exposing her to caller sports, specified arsenic play and pickleball. She's besides built relationships pinch legendary athletes done her defense activity and counts Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn among her bully friends, while tennis legends Serena Williams and Billie Jean King person helped mentor aliases counsel her caller venture.

She hopes to soon link pinch WNBA prima Caitlin Clark, whom some she and Malik are fans of.

Yousafzai has besides supported nan women's Afghan cricket squad successful its defense effort against FIFA, which would not let them to beryllium a formally recognized squad while successful exile pursuing nan Taliban's return to power.

"I judge that existent acquisition is giving girls entree to each of these different pathways that they take for themselves," opportunity Yousafzai, who is group to people a caller memoir, Finding My Way, connected Tuesday, Oct. 21. "And sports is simply a really powerful one, because it builds self-esteem and assurance among them, it challenges stereotypes astir really women are seen and it promotes a very affirmative connection astir women and girls."

Yousafzai and Malik took a earthy liking to women's sports earlier they began readying Recess.

They person attended galore unrecorded events, specified arsenic women's tennis matches, WNBA games and nan Women's World Cup. (They're besides considering attending nan adjacent one, successful Brazil successful 2027.)

"There is this powerfulness astir women's sports that tin bring truthful galore group together from different cultures, and it is specified a powerful instrumentality for gender equity arsenic well," Yousafzai says. "So for me, I was like, we request to beryllium nan business lawsuit of women's sports."

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Malik, who is besides nan head of franchise improvement for nan Multan Sultans, a Pakistani cricket team, hopes Recess tin thief create sports equity connected a world scale.

"All this advancement should not conscionable beryllium successful 1 portion of nan world," he says. "So I deliberation that's thing that drives maine also, is to fig retired that portion of nan puzzle arsenic we commencement building retired Recess."