21-year-old Burhan Ali from Jammu and Kashmir brought laurels to the country by bagging a silver medal in the 5th Gewinn Unimap Malaysia international open taekwondo championship 2022 held in Malaysia.
The young taekwondo player lost his final bout with Brazilian player Edward Matthews and thus managed with a silver medal to his name.He achieved this feat in an event which was organized by “Kelab Taekwondo Aelma, Malaysia” which began on September 02 and concluded on September 04, 2022. Participants from 15 countries took part in this championship including India, Nepal, Brazil, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand.
Hailing from Khan Sahib in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, Burhan is currently pursuing a BPES degree from Late Vasantrao Naik College of Physical Education in Nagpur Maharashtra.
Earlier on, he fought two bouts in the event where he defeated his opponent Dilshad Preet Singh from Nepal in the first bout while in the second bout he defeated Aman Kumar from Malaysia in the senior category.
He said that he is aiming for a medal in the World Unimap Taekwondo championship.
“The event was held under the patronage of Pankaj Kumar, Chairman, Energy Sports and Fitness Academy of India. The championship’s aim was to include all fighting games, both domestically and globally,” he said.
“Burhan’s Taekwondo journey began at the school level when he was just 14. As he proceeded, his interest in Taekwondo became his passion,” said Faisal Ali, brother of Burhan.
He added that he has already bagged a gold medal in the Indo-Nepal taekwondo championship held in Varanasi, U.P in 2021.“Recent silver medal is his second consecutive achievement,” he added.