Shopian teenage girl bags gold medal in national sqay championship

A 16-year-old girl from South Kashmir’s Shopian district has brought laurels to Jammu and Kashmir by bagging gold medal in Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Sqay National Championship held in Haryana.

Durdana Yousuf, daughter of Late Mohammad Yousuf resident of Bongam in Shopian town has been selected for Zone 2 of the championship.

Durdana while talking to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that she was happy to win the gold medal in martial arts once again as it gives her more confidence to perform well in upcoming events.

“I have been interested in martial arts and sketching since my childhood and started learning arts when I was just 5 or 6 year old,” she said.

For the last 10 years I have started from Zone level and then district level followed by state, national and international as well, she said.

“So far I have won three gold medals at National level and silver medal at international level recently in Nepal besides state level awards and medals,” she said.

“I had to defeat players from three states namely Orissa, Haryana and Maharashtra to win a gold medal and get entry in the second Zone,” she said, while adding that she is hopeful that she will perform well and win a gold medal there as well.

While asking about infrastructure in J&K, She said that sports infrastructure outside Kashmir is much better and Shopian has less infrastructure and interested youth are facing problems.

“I would like to give credit of success to our Coach Mr Ehsan and it was possible only because of his training”, she said, adding, in today’s era, learning self defense is a must for youth, especially girls.

She said that her aim is to play at mega international stages and perform well.

Youth facing any kind of depression must join sports as it will help them to remain mentally and physically fit and will keep them away from social evils like drugs, she said.

While playing different games, your mind gets fresh and it helps in education as well, she said, adding that she has been spending her spare time making sketches as well—(KNO)