23rd May, 2022

Author: Preeti Sharma (Content Writer)

Faisal Ali Dar's name is a welcome change in Kashmir. He hails from a region where individuals are decades behind in terms of sporting infrastructure, and this honor will definitely inspire everybody to strive even harder regardless of hurdles. When the government of India published the list of Padma Shri awards for 2022 on the eve of Republic Day, January 26, there were names that made perfect sense. Faisal Ali Dar was among those on such a list. The Padma Shri award was given to the 33-year-old citizen of Kashmir's Bandipora area for his efforts to improve sports through martial arts and to keep children away from addictions.

Faisal Ali Dar said to The Hulahul Times "I got the national award for the campaign against drug addiction ‘Nasha Mukt’ after I counseled 47 youngsters who had been hooked and brought them back to normality after enrolling them in my sports academy”. Faisal becomes first person from Kashmir to receive one of India's most coveted accolades. According to him, this has not only motivated him, but has also brought all Kashmir citizens an inspiration. However the road of success was not smooth. Bandipora district is a remote rural area of Kashmir where people battle for basic necessities. But Faisal had always had specific ambitions, and making those dreams come true was his passion.

Faisal Ali Dar, presently associated with state health department, he frequently practice martial arts with kids at a park nearby. He inspired to start martial arts by watching Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan movies and act out the sequences with his friends. Aside from Jackie Chan's techniques in films like Defender, Drunken Master, and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, He often copy Bruce Lee's techniques from Game of Death and Enter the Dragon.

Martial Arts training began in 2003. Faisal took the steps in Bandipora by requesting the youngsters in his neighborhoods to learn martial arts, regardless of the fact that it is a sport played in the Olympics around the world, and he would like the children to learn it, but his efforts were not identified as no one had heard of this sport previously. He also encountered multiple issues while travelling to various areas for National competitions; He was never appreciated by his own community despite winning gold. Dar started wushu in 2003 and subsequently trained in Jammu under current national coach and Dronacharya Awardee Kuldeep Handoo, but his wushu journey never took off. In 2005, he gathered 15 students which were interested in martial arts and started giving them fitness and martial arts training and get them to different level of learning and slightly the things have started turning in a positive direction.

Faisal also dabbled in kickboxing, winning gold in the Asian Championships in Pune in 2010. But his professional career was cut short in 2013 due to a lack of formal recognition. Even though he won an Asian Championship medal in 2010, but was not pleased with it and had a deep desire to do something for martial arts. He explained, adding that he founded the "Ali Sports Academy" and transformed it into a training center for youngsters. He began to coach children ages 2 to 7 in kung Fu martial arts, and that eight selected players performed at the international level, in addition to hundreds competing in national competitions.

In 2013, he established a formal organization to assist youngsters in staying away from addiction. He believes that if children are fully occupied with sports, their minds will not go in the opposite direction. One of the difficulties he encountered was convincing families of girls to enroll their daughters to training. At present there are more than 1500 girls are learning martial art successfully. Ali has 17 branches of his institution in various districts of Jammu and Kashmir where children learn not only martial arts as well as other sports he has established such as Rugby, Water Sports, Badminton, and volleyball.

He advised parents to enroll their children in sporting events activities in relation to academics for their children's better future, Ali said, that if they attend classes, they must also go for sport, so that children can become respectable athletes. Families are attempting to get their children out of games at a young age, which is not feasible; it requires at least 18 years for a child becoming a sportsman in any area. Continuing his arduous attempts in the specific field, a sportsperson must be trained on a grassroots, then on a national level and finally on an international one.

As of now, he runs 17 centers that provide coaching in 18 sports, including wushu, taekwondo, rugby, canoeing, kayaking, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, and football, and the coaching is executed in city parks in districts such as Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal, and Srinagar by trainers Abida Akhtar, rugby player Irshad Ahmad, and rower Sajad Ahmad Dar with approximate participation 13,000 children including three hours of continuous training on a charge of Rs 50.

Faisal Ali Dar is convinced that he will produce medalists. As there has been a prominent growth in martial arts. However, there have been instances of unlawful federations attracting players and this one element he thinks to be streamlined, also he hopes all of the trainees to win medals for India at the 2026 Asian Games.