In Bandipora district of North Kashmir, everyone calls him Master Faisal. He has earned this respect by working with utmost dedication for the past 11 years. Every morning, in an open ground, a group of young boys and girls are lined up and in a single command by Master Faisal, everyone starts kicking a punching bag. This open ground is “Ali Sports Academy”, where about 4000 kids are trained in different martial arts by Master Faisal free of cost.
Faisal Ali Dar, a 26-year-old is a former sports champion. Inspired by the movies of Bruce Lee, he won his first Gold in a state level Taekwondo championship in 2005. Post winning, he inaugurated his sports academy in the hinterland of his house with an aim to boost the sports sector in Kashmir. He got his first black belt in Kickboxing in 2008. Later in 2011 and 2013, he bagged Gold and Silver at championships in Iran and India respectively. Faisal says that our society is not flexible enough to encourage children towards sports. Usually, parents don’t support their children to take up sports as a career. He says, when he won his first Gold he didn’t find anyone to welcome him but today he is happy to see people welcoming his students who won Gold in championships with open arms.
When the valley’s kid, Tajamul Islam (seven-year-old) became India’s first youngest Kickboxer to win Gold in the world’s championship (2016) held in Italy, it brought a smile to the face of millions in Kashmir. It was Master Faisal who was behind the success story of Tajamul. He convinced Tajamul’s father to let his daughter practice for the World championship despite the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. During the unrest, Faisal would go to Tajamul’s house to train her. Another six-year-old champion, Hashim Mansoor, won Gold in Asian Karate Championship in Delhi.
These wonderkinds, both Tajamul and Hashim were coached by Master Faisal in his sports academy. Faisal’s sports academy is an open-air ground at the back side of his house. Sometimes, Faisal trains his children in the forests too. Although the sports academy lacks high-level facilities but Faizal’s passion for sports has kept it running for 11 years. Master Faisal lets children play in the open ground to understand which sports they are good at and later he also counsel their parents to encourage children to take up sports.
The realization that people in Kashmir are negligent towards sports made him open a sports academy to make the dreams of Kashmiri kids become a reality. He struggled a lot to introduce martial arts in Bandipora when people hardly knew what martial arts are. Today, Faisal is happy that his kids are eyeing to bag Gold in Olympics. Faisal Ali Dar also received Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Award in “Sport and Peace” category for his contribution in “Peace-Building Activities” through sports in Kashmir.
We pay respect to Faisal Ali Dar for announcing a new era of sports in Kashmir.
