From childhood, Nisar Ahmad Mir, from Soibugh in central Kashmir’s Budgam district was a sports enthusiast but he had never thought that he would become a Wushu player and coach.
One day, a local trainer gave Nisar a chance to play. His steps and techniques surprised the coach.
Nisar’s father is an artisan, who does embroidery on shawls and was working overtime to support a 9-member family including four sons and three daughters.
Initially, Nisar started financing his studies by doing shawl embroidery but later he found he was not earning much so he changed his profession to carpet weaving. But he continued to participate in sports activities.
When he went to Bangalore to participate in a sports event, he got an opportunity to meet talented players from northeast India.
Since then, for him Martial Art is his only priority. His only dream was to be able to support his family and make his mother proud.
After much struggle, Nisar became the first Kashmiri who is a National Institute of Sports (NIS) qualified coach for Wushu.
So far, he has participated in 18 national games, 12 nationals in Wushu, where he won five medals, including one gold, one bronze and four silver medals.
In Taekwondo, he has played three nationals and won a bronze medal. In Muaythai, Nisar has played three nationals and won three gold medals.
He has also participated in one international competition in 2006, for Muaythai in Thailand where he could not perform because he remained continuously unwell.
“Muaythai is actually a local game of Thailand and is very difficult. We have only a few people in Kashmir who know this game better,” said Nisar.
In 2007, Mir participated in a national in Vishakhapatnam. Seeing his good performance, he was selected as one among the other 20 sportspersons by Sahara Group in Mumbai, to be part of their company team.
After hard work he was appointed as sub-inspector job in Jammu and Kashmir Police in October 2009.
He has participated in five national Wushu games and across India, he says there are only maximum thirty youth who have become judges for Wushu, so far.
Nisar also runs an academy named ‘Pahalwan Sports Club’ in which he trains many youth, especially to those who live in the village and its adjoining areas.
“Many youth who are trained in Wushu and martial arts in the academy have participated in national and international events and have won medals,” he said.
“I have suffered myself a lot for not being able to pay my fee. But it changed me totally. When I am at home, I still do the embroidery work and I feel very proud of it,” he said.
But Nisar doesn’t charge them anything and he believes that the youth who are in sports are mostly from humble backgrounds.
“I am supporting them so that they do not leave it midway. I want to take them forward. There are many youth who want to play but there are no coaches,” he said.
Nisar said it is important to remain in touch with coach which acts as a backup.
“I have trained many youth who have got good results at national and international level. I want to contribute to the society,” he said.
The Wushu coach said any sports player in J&K who qualifies senior national in first, second and third positions are eligible for many government jobs and there is also SRO about it.
“Even when I was playing even my parents would criticize me. But when I did it by conviction then they also realized its importance. Financial support is very important to achieve any milestone. I earned myself besides parent support. There are good and bad days also. There is no second option to hard work and dedication,” he said.
