J-K’s Wushu player Sadia Tariq wins gold in Moscow

SRINAGAR — India’s star Wushu player Sadia Tariq has made the entire nation proud, especially Jammu and Kashmir, by winning a gold medal in the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship held in the Russian capital from February 22 to 28.

Sadia is receiving appreciation from one and all for her brilliant achievement in the world of sports.

PM Modi congratulates star player Sadia Tariq

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to social media to wish the young Wushu champion. “Congratulations to Sadia Tariq on winning the Gold medal at the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship. Her success will inspire many budding athletes. Wishing her the very best for her future endeavours,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha, also wished the player for her brilliant success. “Congratulations to Sadia Tariq from Srinagar on winning Gold in this International championship. She exhibited great discipline, dedication, talent and mental strength, making India proud with her significant accomplishment. She is an inspiration for budding sportspersons of the UT. I wish Sadia more success in future,” Lieutenant Governor said in a tweet.

Sadia Tariq won the gold by defeating a local favourite

Sadia Tariq, who hails from Bemina Srinagar, has consecutively bagged gold medals in the 19th and 20th Junior National Championship held in Haryana and Jalandhar, respectively. In the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship, Sadia won the gold medal by defeating a local favourite at the event.

Sadia, who came into sports at a young age, did his schooling from Presentation Convent Srinagar and started playing in school events when she was in her first grade. “When I was in my first grade, our fitness teacher came to our class and announced about the sports tourney in our school. I was the first one to register for the event,” Sadia said.

Star Wushu player is all-praise for her parents’ support

Appreciating her parents’ support from a very young age, Sadia Tariq elatedly said, “I remember my father just told me if I am interested in sports, he will always support me. I was very happy and choose taekwondo as the game and from the very next day, I started my training.”

After training for a year, Sadia started to participate in district and division level sports events. “I went for my first competition from school level which was organized by Indian Army at Bandipora district and I won a bronze medal. I started getting appreciation from my coaches and school administration which kept my morale high in this field,” said Sadia.

After her success in local events, the star Wushu player started to participate in national-level events. “After winning a bronze medal in local events, my coaches appreciated me and encouraged me to participate in national-level events and the same year, I went to New Delhi for participation in 3rd Open India Taekwondo Championship and won a bronze medal,” a happy Sadia remarked.

Sadia then started to play on a regular basis and was featured in many events like the Sub-juniors National Taekwondo Championship where she won her first gold medal. In 2018, Sadia won a bronze medal in Hyderabad for International Junior Taekwondo Championship and also participated in Imphal, Nagaland for the 64th National School Games.

‘Kuldeep Handoo encouraged me to switch over from Taekwondo to Wushu’

Sadia’s career took a turn when she decided to switch from Taekwondo to Wushu sport. “Our Kashmir Wushu chief executive officer and chief coach of India, Kuldeep Handoo, encouraged me to switch over from taekwondo to Wushu which was hard for me but I took it as a challenge and started training for Wushu,” Sadia said. After proper training, Sadia started to participate in professional Wushu events and earned her name.

“I participated in national-level Wushu championship held at Kolkata and won a bronze medal which motivated me and earned my love for this sport,” Sadia maintained.

Sadia’s elder sister also joined sports and is a professional Martial Arts player. “In March 2021, I won a gold medal at 2nd Junior National Championship at Haryana in which my sister also participated. She has also played for the national level championships in Gujarat and state-level championships and won few gold medals,” Sadia said.

Sadia has chosen to be a sportsperson as her career

Sadia has dedicatedly chosen sports as her career and wants to make her country proud by getting more medals. “I don’t want to be a doctor or an engineer, my dream is to represent the country at International events and win gold for J&K and country in the Olympics,” Sadia remarked with confidence.

Sadia said that sports keeps us away from mental agonies like anxiety, stress and depression and all the parents in the valley should encourage their wards to take an active part in sports.

She added that it was her mother’s and her own dream to represent herself at an international platform and her dream came true by bagging a gold medal at the International platform. She hoped that the government will extend every support to female sportspersons and provide them with a platform to showcase their unique talent.

The star Wushu player also made a fervent appeal to all parents of J&K to support and encourage their wards, particularly girls, in sports.