Kashmir’s young champ proves a point

Rifat Mohidin in Srinagar

On the banks of the Madumati in North Kashmir’s Bandipora, Muslimabad village, about 65-km from Srinagar, is celebrating: the village’s 8-year-old girl Tajamul Islam has become the world’s youngest kickboxing champion. Tajamul’s village has no road; and electricity is a luxury. Her small roofed house, like all others, lies in a row while the river flows directly opposite. On November 16, villagers saw on news channels that Tajamul was being interviewed for winning Gold in Kickboxing. Daughter of a driver, Tajamul on Nov 9 beat her American opponent to grab the top honour at the sub-junior level of Kickboxing Championship held in Andria Italy.

“She has made me and India proud,” says Ghulam Muhammad, Tajamul’s father. 

Kashmir’s is a Muslim conservative society where girls are mostly told to stay away from sports. In Tajamul’s case, her coach convinced her parents not to waste her talent. “Tajamul is aggressive and fearless,” says Faisal Ali. Faisal is training children in the village without charging a fee. “I’ve been training kids since 2014 and have trained scores of girls and boys,” says Faisal.

Tajamul’s achievement has changed villagers’ conservative views. “We now think everyone should play the sport of one’s interest and work hard,” says Shahid Hussian, a villager. “Girls are being discouraged here. If they can go outside for pursuing engineering and medicine, I wonder why they are not being allowed to go outside for sports,” says Faisal. Tajamul’s talent was highlighted last year when she bagged the gold medal in the sub-junior category at the 2015 National Kickboxing Championship in Delhi. That enabled her to gain entry into the Andria world championship.

On November 10, when the family got a call from Itlay that their 8-year-old daughter has won the championship, they could hardly believe.“I was not sure. But when I talked with Tajamul, she told me: ‘Mummy mai zyon’ (I won). I was very happy,” says Kulsuma.

Like everyone in her class, Tajamul has been promoted to class III at Army Goodwill School Bandipora as a part of government’s decision to give mass promotion to students from class V to Class IX due to the ongoing unrest in Kashmir. She wants to focus on her studies too. “I want to become a doctor and a fighter. I want to train myself well and play in the Olympics one day,” says Tajamul.