Sabqat Malik, a 20-year-old girl from the Bandiopra district of North Kashmir, has been selected to represent India in Martial Arts.
She has been selected to represent the national team at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Mongolia next month. Sabqat Malik is obsessed with the sport and has also won a gold medal for Jammu and Kashmir. But this journey hasn’t been easy for her.
“The Japanese martial art sport of Jiu-Jitsu is called wrestling in our village and everyone thinks that only men can play it. But I listened to people’s taunts, boy’s abuses and secretly practiced underground for many years to make a name for myself in this sport,” Sabqat Malik was quoted as saying to India Today.
Watching Jiu-Jitsu competitions on TV in the sixth grade, Sabqat Malik decided that she would try her hand at martial arts.
“In school, when I started practicing on the ground with a few girls, the school administration restricted us and said that it would spoil the atmosphere of the school. When I practiced in the village field, people taunted me and the boys abused and threatened me. They used to say you are a girl, learn kitchen work, don’t play this shameless game, you are spreading indecency,” Sabqat said.
Now after her selection to represent India in World Championship next month in Magnolia, Sabqat has become a star in her district at home.
