An eight-year-old girl kickboxer from Kashmir, Tajamul Islam, created history for India by winning the gold medal at the World Kickboxing Championship held in Andria, Italy this November.
Tajamul, a class two student, won six games in a five-day long championship in which 90 countries had participated. In the final, she defeated an opponent from the United States.
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Daughter of a driver, the young kickboxer is an inspiration to all the girls in her society. Lean and spry, Islam’s favourite movie is Spiderman and she’s been captivated by the sport since she four-and-a-half, courtesy some flashy moves in Bollywood blockbusters.
She may be young but the dreams she has, keep her inspired – even as she puts in 25 hours of practise a week.
In 2014, at the age of five, Tajamul joined Faisal Ali Dar's Martial Arts Academy in Bandipora and from there on, she trained at least two hours everyday. The rewards soon started pouring in as she began to participate in different district and state level competitions. She was named the best Fighter of The Year at the 10th J&K State Wushu Championships that same year.
Islam earned national recognition in 2015 when she knocked down her 13-year-old opponent in just quarter of an hour to bag the gold medal at the National Kickboxing Championship at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi. While crossing the milestones, she became the first girl from the Kashmir in her age group to win a gold medal at the event.
After the artistry captured her imagination, the young champ went on to become the youngest gold medallist in the state-level Wushu Championships, and found herself far ahead from the pack in the National Wushu Championships held in Hardwar from 27-31 March 2016. She defeated opponents who were taller and had stronger physiques from New Delhi, Maharashtra, Manipur, Bihar, Haryana and Telengana.
Tahir Ibn Manzoor is a freelance sports journalist from Kashmir. He has a great affection for longform feature writing. He tweets @TahirIbnManzoor.