The year 2014 though witnessed a mixed fortune for sports in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which is striving hard to craft a space on the country’s sports map, there is certainly improvement in the performance graph of many sports disciplines. And as usual, the medal winning sports disciplines like taekwondo, wushu, gymnastics, fencing, kick boxing, roller skating, mountaineering, handball and judo are a few games to name. However, surprising but splendid performance in the disciplines of cricket and boxing were really a delight to watch. The major games and sports disciplines like hockey, athletics, football, basketball, table tennis and badminton etc hardly showed any improvement in their performance graph in the current year.
The highlight of the year was that two most talented cricketers of the State namely Shubham Khajuria and Parvez Rasool represented the State of Jammu and Kashmir at the highest level. While Rasool represented Team India at the International scene against Bangladesh, Shubham was part of India Under-19 team in the quadrangular series held in India and another Under-19 cricket series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Rasool also got National selectors nod to be picked in 30 probables for World Cup. Moreover, history makers Palak Kour and Mitali’s journey to Commonwealth Games was another landmark achievement in sports sector in the year 2014.
Apart from good individual and team performances, the State Government’s initiative of making all out efforts to build sports infrastructure across the State was also commendable- as the year apart from witnessing renovation of indoor stadia in Srinagar and Jammu, also witnessed construction and development of abundant sports infrastructure in nooks and corners of the State. Development of synthetic football turf was one of the rare things to happen in Jammu and Kashmir. The year was also significant for the fact that a budget of Rs 200 crore was allotted to the State for enhancement of sports infrastructure and allied things with regard to sports in Jammu and Kashmir. Morever, the State can boast of hosting many National Level sports events in the year 2014.
Historic Commonwealth journey for gymnasts Palak, Mitali & Coach Krupali:
State’s ace gymnasts Palak Kour and Mitali Dogra along with State’s pride and India coach Krupali Singh made the State proud by creating history to be the first players and coach to represent the country in the prestigious Commonwealth Games. Moreover, J&K won team gold in 23rd Senior National Gymnastics Championship held at Thane in Maharashtra. The winners included Mitali, Palak, Nitasha Sharma and Epsita Gupta. Mitali was named 2nd best and Palak 3rd best in the Championship.
Gold for Tej Pal Kour, Parul and Rabia in Gymnastics: Tej Pal Kour bagged gold in individual women in the 13th Aerobic Gymnastics Championship, while Parul Mehra and Rabia Verma clinched gold in the mixed pair event of this Championship conducted in the year 2014.
Judoka Shikha Bhau bags gold in Youth Asian Games: Judoka Shikha Bhau won bronze medal in the Youth Asian Games at China in the current year, while Shweta Thakur claimed gold in Senior Nationals at Haridwar in India. Kabra Altaf and Nippu Jamwal clinched bronze in Junior and Senior NATIONAL Championships respectively.
Shubham Pundir blossom’s: Gritty and gutsy young cricketer Shubham Pundir brought laurels to the State by scoring three magnificent centuries so far in the ongoing season in the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) Under-19 Cooch Behar and Under-23 Col C K Nayudu Cricket Tournaments. In Under-19, Shubham hit 103 against Railways, 109 against strong Tamil Nadu and superb 94 against formidable Punjab, while the promising cricketer scored 133 against Goa in Under-23 category. Shubham is the student of class 12th of MHAC Nagbani.
J&K team wins bronze in North India Boxing C’ship: The boxing team of the State won bronze medal in the North India Boxing Championship in the year 2014. The medal winners included Sandeep Singh, Anshuman Sharma, Nitin, Deepak, Ankit, Rohit, Raman and Sarfraz. Moreover, boxers namely Pardeep Sharma, Gulshan Singh Chi, Saleem Khan, Avinash Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Ankit Kumar, Anshu Kumar, Shubham Kumar and Vinay Kumar.
Boxer Khalida Bano dazzles: Ace boxer Khalida Bano dazzled in the year 2014 as she won gold medal in the North Zone Boxing Championship. She is the first women boxer from the State o achieve this landmark.
Skater Nikita Thakur wins double gold: Promising skater Nitika Thakur, sister of ace skater Paras Thakur bagged 2 gold medals in roller skating at the National scene. She won gold medals in National School Games held under the auspices of School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and in Nationals held under he aegis of Roller Skating Federation of India at Virar in Maharashtra.
Handoo brings laurels: State Awardee Kuldeep Handoo brought laurels to the State by being the chief coach of Indian Wushu team which bagged 2 medals at the International scene in Asian Wushu Championship. Under his supervision, Y Sanathoi Devi and Narender Grewal secured bronze medals in the said Championship. For his outstanding contribution as coach, Handoo’s name has been recommended for Dronacharya Award by Wushu Federation of India. He has the distinction of winning 8 consecutive gold medals in Nationals and has been 6 time International medalist.
Atul Pangotra continues charisma: Atul Pangotra, Physical Education Teacher in the Department of Youth Services and Sports and NIS Taekwondo coach, recipient of Sher-i-Kashmir Sports Award for outstanding sportspersons is among very sportspersons in the State, who is continuing his charisma as player at the International Level even after his employment. He continued his participation in the International events in the year 2014 also.
J&K Ranji Trophy team creates history: Jammu and Kashmir Ranji Trophy team created history by defeating 40-time Ranji Champion Mumbai in the Group-A match at Wankhade Stadium, Mumbai in the ongoing season. Young Shubham Khajuria was the star performer in the match, slaming a magnificent century.
Rasool, Shubham make India cut: Parvez Rasool and Shubham Khajuria made it to the International Level in the discipline of cricket. While Rasool made it to the Team India, his younger counterpart Shubham was the part of India Under-19 team in the current year. Apart from these cricketers, a galaxy of their Ranji Trophy counterparts excelled in the year 2014. Ian Dev Singh slammed cracking 145 runs in the Duleep Trophy, while consistent performers Ramday Punia and Samiullah Beigh also made it to the North Zone Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy squads respectively. Umar Nazir is emerging genuine quick bowler from the state, who did exceptionally well in 2014.
Kanaihaya, Sampark shine in U-14 cricket: Youngsters Kanaihaya Wadhawan and Sampark Gupta shone in the BCCI’s North Zone Under-14 Dhruv Pandov Cricket Tournament held at Chandigarh this year. Kanaihaya slammed 2 centuries and 2 big half centuries in the Tournament, while Sampark scalped 29 wickets in the 4 matches against Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab in this Tournament.
State kick boxing team wins galaxy of medals: The kick boxing teams of the State won galaxy of medals in the Junior, Senior and Sub Junior Nationals held during the year. The State team won 25 medals, with 7 gold, 6 silver and 12 bronze in the Junior Nationals held at Kolkata, while it won 11 medals, with 1 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze medals in the Junior Nationals held at Pune in Maharashtra. Moreover, the J&K team won 26 medals, with 4 gold, 7 silver and 15 bronze medals in the Sub Junior and Senior National Championship held at Pune in Mharashtra, while it won 24 medals, with 2 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze medals in the Sub Junior and Senior National Kick Boxing Championship held at Faridabad in Haryana.
State fencers sparkle; Vishal Thapar shows composure: Jammu and Kashmir fencers sparkled in the year 2014, especially Vishal Thapar, who performed brilliantly throughout the year. He won 6 medals in National Championship including 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, with a gold in prestigious Senior National Fencing Championship. He was selected for Asian Games seniors, Commonwealth Fencing Championship in Scotland and forthcoming Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championship at Abu Dhabi UAE.
The players including Sub Inspector Rashid Ahmed, Major Vikram Singh Jamwal, Ujjwal Gupta and Vishal Thapar won the gold medal in Senior National Fencing Championship. Vansh Mahajan also clamed gold in 59th National School Games.
Apart from excellence of these games and players at the National scene, there were many other sports disciplines in which J&K excelled at National Level.
However, the performance graph of a few games including football and basketball neither declined nor increased during the year.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
