Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar
The success of Tajamul Islam, who has recently won her second international gold medal in kickboxing and is eyeing the Olympics, has spawned a craze for this sport in her hometown Bandipora and areas around. More than 500 children are learning kickboxing at an Academy launched by the 14-year-old world champion.
At present her Haider Sports Academy has five centers in the Bandipora are where school children are getting kickboxing training.
Tajamul’s father Ghulam Mohammad Lone is the co-founder and the President of the Academy. Lone, 36, who supplies Kashmiri dry fruit to different parts of the country, has always been supportive of her daughter. He has invested Rs 6 lakhs in setting up the Haider Sports Academy.
The pratice session at Haider Sports Academy
The Academy is located in the local sports stadium, Muslim Abaad in Bandipora, and has four other centers outside the town - one each at Nussu, Nadihal, Bonakote, and Quilmuqam. All the centers are located near the government schools.
“Our Academy’s centers provide coaching and practicing facilities in kickboxing to the school children so that they can compete at the national and international levels,” says Tajamul, who studies in the seventh grade in local Army Goodwill School.
At any given time, the Academy employs 40-45 coaches who are locals having reached a higher level in kickboxing. They provide training and practice to the young students.
Children warming up in winter at the haider Academy
The practice and training at the five centers-three are located in the Government schools, one in a private space and one at the Sports Stadium- coach students of all ages up to High School levels in the morning and evening hours. The morning sessions are from 6-30 to 7-30 a.m, and the evening one is from 4-30 to 7 p.m. Tajamul explains.
Tajamul plans to develop the Academy into a Sports Club.
While she has already bagged two international gold medals in kickboxing, one in Italy in 2016 and another in Cairo in Egypt, Tajamul craves for going to the Olympics after the Kickboxing Federation of India (KFI), like many other Sports Federations, is recognized by the Government of India for its inclusion in the Olympics.
“We are planning to meet the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur for this purpose,” she told Awaz-the voice. Kickboxing is popular across many countries. She says in Cairo where the world kickboxing championship was held last month, all 112 countries participated.
She recently took to Twitter to request Prime Minister to grant her a meeting:
Moved by his daughter’s determination, success, and hard work Mohammad Lone, 36, has extended all his moral and financial support in establishing the Sports Academy. He has already invested Rs 6 lakh in it. The Academy is duly registered and provides all the requisite infrastructure for the trainees.
The Academy charges Rs 500 as admission-cum-annual fees. This corpus is used for paying the coaches and the rent for the space at the Nussu center. There are no other costs to the children coming from kickboxing training.
Lone says, “I am so proud of my daughter’s achievements.” He says his twins - a son and a daughter – who are elder to Tajamul and are appearing in the Class X examination in March, are the real inspiration for her. Both of them were the first to learn kickboxing in the Army Goodwill school and they too are doing well in the sports. Tajamul was impressed by their performances and was also influenced by the kickboxing shows on television.
The family shifted from Aloosa village, about 10 km from the town 15 years ago, to ensure their children got admission into the Army Goodwill School.
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