Tanveer Rashid Magrey

As the clock chimes to 5 PM, dozens of students of different age groups make a beeline in front of a four-storey building, few blocks away from Natipora chowk in Srinagar. Opening the iron-wrought gate, the students ascend the flight of stairs to reach the fourth floor. One hall remains buzzing in the evening hours, for it houses Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Unified Martial Arts (JKAUMA).

Established in 2014, an amalgam of various clubs and associations, this academy is one of its kind. It teaches different martial art forms including taekwondo, kickboxing, jeet kune do and mix martial arts. Stating the importance of the academy in Kashmir, Tanzeel Ahmad, coach at the academy, says that all the talent of the state goes waste without proper coaching and guidance.

“When I was a player, we had no coach to guide us and we would play in open fields. A few minutes of rain would play spoilsport. That is when I thought of establishing an academy which would do away with those problems”, the coach said.

The academy is playing an important role in fighting the drug addiction in the valley as well. As the drug menace took an alarming form in the state with many youth falling prey to it, JKAUMA chipped in with a slogan which reads “Drugs out and sports in” to give addicts a platform to wean away from this addiction.

“It is a slogan through which we want to convey our message that youth should give priority to sports over drugs,” says Tanzeel Ahmad, a resident of Kralpora area of Chadoora Budgam. “We want government to tender some funds to us so that we could utilize them on those centres where we work on de-addiction”, he further adds.

19-year-old Yawar Ali Khawaja from Natipora area of Srinagar, also practises here every evening.Putting on his white uniform, the young jeet kune do player says, “I have been practising here for two years”.

Khawaja’s exploits in this art are a telling sign of his steep rise. Khawaja’s impressive show at district level catapulted him to the state level. “After succeeding at district level, I was selected for state level where I clinched the gold medal”, says Khawaja. The next pit stop for Khawaja was nationals where he took on the players from Manipur, Assam, Haryana and other places and came out with flying colours. “Last year, I participated in the nationals where I won gold,” says the reed-like thin jeet kune do player.

The academy also boasts of some players with exceptional talent at a very young age. When six-year old Hashim Mansoor and seven-year old Tajamul Islam transcended the geographical boundaries and scripted their names in gold letters in kickboxing and karate, it brought about a sea change in the sports landscape of Kashmir. Islam became world kick boxing champion and Mansoor grabbed gold medal at Asian Karate Championship. It whetted the dreams of young Rayal.

Young Rayal religiously drops in at the Natipora academy every day to hone his skills in what he is best at-Taekwondo. Rayal has many things to flaunt and many more to come as expected by his well-wishers. “I have played at district level and grabbed gold. Apart from this, I also won gold at state level last year,” says the white uniform clad Rayal. With age on his side, Rayal has an opportunity to further add distinctions to his résumé with many more feats at international level.Few other students like Amir Ali have also claimed gold both at the district as well as state level.

Having carved a niche for themselves in the sport which seeks physical toughness. All the boys enrolled in the academy unanimously assert that it has two-pronged advantages: Handy defence weapon and it keeps a person in fine fettle.

              Amir Ali is another student who hasn’t disappoint his coach thus far. Amir has made most of the tournaments he has participated thus far.” I played at district level and claimed gold.  At the state level championship, which was held at Islamia College, I also went away with gold.