She hails from an obscure village in Jammu and Kashmir. She's got small hands but big fight in her. She's just 7 years old. Meet Tajamul Islam, a child martial arts sensation, who is set to become the first Kashmiri to represent India at the World Kickboxing Championships.
CherryTree
Tajamul comes from the Bandipora district in Kashmir where her father, Ghulam Mohammad Lone, is a driver for a construction company and does just enough to make ends meet. However, there is no lack of encouragement from his side as he sends Tajamul and her two sisters and two brothers to learn martial arts in a local academy.
The academy is run by Faisal Ali Dar, who was impressed with Tajamul's skills instantly. "I spotted Tajamul from the distance. She wasn't yet completely conversant with the rules of the game but she had the speed. I found her instinctively aggressive," Dar says.
Kashmirobserver
Tajamul made heads turn when she became the youngest gold medalist in the J&K Wushu Championships and qualified for the National Wushu Championships in Haridwar last month. This, after she defeated her opponent last year at the National Kickboxing Championships in Delhi and became the first girl from the Valley in her age group to win a gold medal in the tournament.
"Tajamul has shown ultimate fortitude considering her tender age but her success is the combined efforts of her parents, who supported her in every possible way, her teachers at Goodwill school, who worked really hard to polish her raw talent and most of all the senior Vice-president kick-boxing Federation of India, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Tantray, who encouraged Tajamul ?to show her talent even after some age related issues surfaced," Dar is quoted as saying by the Kashmir Observer.
BCCL
"I saw something amazingly different in her when she won the gold medal in Delhi and I was fully determined to remove any obstacle coming her way. I believe that she will set new milestones of success," Tantray said.
The best fighter of the state, Tajamul's story is inspiring a lot of girls to break barriers and achieve their dreams. "Our village is very backward but I, along with other kids like me, are going to take it to new heights," she said.
She is definitely a champion and on her way to making India proud.