For nearly all of Linn Sandstrom’s life, she has been an athlete.
However the two sports activities she competed in couldn’t be at extra reverse ends of the spectrum.
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Sandstrom, 33, was born in Brazil however raised in Sweden by her adopted dad and mom.
She grew up in a small city known as Vaxjo, which homes Sweden’s Nationwide Glass Museum.
It was in Vaxjo that Sandstrom cast a profession taking part in desk tennis, though she needed to take care of a variety of detractors early on.
“I acquired informed early that I might by no means make it in desk tennis and was set to show individuals fallacious in that,” Sandstrom informed the No Restrict Boxing Podcast in April.
“And I did. I had an ideal profession in desk tennis, acquired awards, going to China taking part in desk tennis, dwelling the life as an athlete.
“Coming from a small city, everybody knew me because the woman that performed desk tennis. That was type of my id.”
Sandstrom ultimately determined to place the paddle away and choose up some textbooks as he started learning advertising and marketing at college.
“However once I was completed with that, I wasn’t happy not being an athlete,” Sandstrom stated.
The 33-year-old determined essentially the most logical subsequent step was to pack her baggage and transfer to the opposite aspect of the world.
Sandstrom elected to name Australia residence and arrange store in Sydney.
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It was in Australia’s most populous metropolis Sandstrom discovered the game she has change into famend the world over for: boxing.
Sandstrom initially started boxing purely for health and skilled at Bondi Boxing Fitness center.
Given she was ranging from scratch within the sport, Sandstrom determined to doc her journey as a strategy to chart her progress all through.
It proved to be a masterstroke.
Because of the abilities she gained from her advertising and marketing diploma, Sandstrom cracked the code on easy methods to self-promote as heavyweight manufacturers equivalent to Adidas acquired on board to sponsor her.
Such was the curiosity in Sandstrom from manufacturers, they had been flying her ‘all the world over to do main shoots’.
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Sandstrom’s self-promotion additionally led to her receiving a possibility to make her skilled boxing debut in August 2020.
Sadly for Sandstrom her debut did not fairly go to plan as she misplaced to Jessica Cashman through unanimous choice.
Nevertheless, the actual fact Sandstrom fought on the undercard of Tim Tszyu v Jeff Horn ensured she had a large platform to launch her skilled profession.
Sandstrom would have blended fortunes over her subsequent three fights as she registered a win, a cut up draw and a loss.
However the 33-year-old went on a tear from her fourth struggle onwards as she was unbeaten over her subsequent eight bouts, racking up seven wins and one draw.
With each win got here extra followers on her Instagram, which now sits at just below 97,000.
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Sandstrom’s profitable streak ultimately led to a world title bout in opposition to WBA flyweight champion Clara Lescurat in April.
The 33-year-old additionally inked a relatively distinctive sponsorship deal forward of the bout as she joined forces with OnlyFans.
Nevertheless, Sandstrom signed an ‘athlete deal’, which meant she would solely share boxing footage and dietary tricks to her account as a substitute of the grownup content material many individuals affiliate the web site with.
Sadly for Sandstrom, her struggle in opposition to Lescurat didn’t go to plan because the Argentinian retained her world title in a large unanimous choice verdict.
The 33-year-old did not wait lengthy to step again into the ring as she returned two months later and drew with unbeaten Thai expertise Prakayrat Wongsuta.
Sandstrom returned to profitable methods in October, beating Carla Camila Campos Gonzales in her residence nation of Sweden.
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Whether or not Sandstrom can overcome the ultimate hurdle to change into a world champion stays to be seen.
Nevertheless, given she was in a position to show her critics fallacious in her desk tennis profession, there’s each probability Sandstrom can go one higher if she receives a second alternative.