Wushu champ. Sadia Tariq gets PM Modi’s praise for her Gold

Srinagar, Feb 27 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated India’s star kid Wushu player Sadia Tariq for winning the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship held in Russia from February 22 to 28. “Congratulations to Sadia Tariq on winning the Gold medal at the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship. Her success will inspire many budding athletes. Wishing her the very best for her future endeavors,” PM Modi said in a tweet. “Sir, I want to sincerely thank you for congratulating me on my recent achievement. It’s a proud moment for our nation and I will definitely continue trying to make my India proud,” the star sensation said in her reply. Lieutenant Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha, also wished the player for her brilliant success. “Congratulations to Sadia Tariq from Srinagar on winning Gold in this International championship. She exhibited great discipline, dedication, talent and mental strength making India proud with her significant accomplishment. She is an inspiration for budding sportspersons of the UT. I wish Sadia more success in future,” Lieutenant Governor said in a tweet. Sadia, who hails from Bemina, Srinagar, has consecutively bagged gold medals in 19th and 20th Junior National Championship held in Haryana and Jalandhar, respectively. In the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship, Sadia won the gold medal by defeating a local favourite at the event. Sadia, who came into sports at a young age, did his schooling from Presentation Convent Srinagar and started playing in school events when she was in her first grade. “When I was in my first grade our fitness teacher came to our class and announced about the sports tourney in our school, I was the first one to register for the event,” Sadia said. Appreciating her parents’ support from the very young age, Sadia elatedly said, “I remember my Father just told me if I am interested in sports, he will always support me. I was very happy and choose taekwondo as the game and from the very next day I started my training.” After training for a year, Sadia started to participate in district and division level sports events. “I went for my first competition from school level which was organized by the Indian Army at Bandipora district and I won a bronze medal. I started getting appreciation from my coaches and school administration which kept my morale high in this field.” After her success in local events, the star Wushu player started to participate in national level events. “After winning the bronze medal in local events, my coaches appreciated me and encouraged me to participate in national level events and the same year I went to New Delhi to participate in the 3rd open India taekwondo championship and won a bronze medal,” a happy Sadia remarked. Sadia then started to play on a regular basis and featured in many events like sub-juniors National Taekwondo championship where she won her first gold medal. In 2018, she won bronze medal in Hyderabad for the International Junior Taekwondo Championship and also participated in Imphal, Nagaland for 64th National school games. Sadia’s career took a turn when she decided to switch from Taekwondo to Wushu sport. “Our Kashmir Wushu Chief Executive Officer and Chief coach of India, Kuldeep Handoo, encouraged me to switch over from taekwondo to Wushu which was hard for me but I took it as a challenge and started training for Wushu,” Sadia said. After proper training, she started to participate in professional Wushu events and earned her name. “I participated in the National Level Wushu championship held at Kolkata and won a bronze medal which motivated me and earned my love for this sport.” Sadia’s elder sister also joined sports and is a professional Martial Arts player. “In March 2021, I won a gold medal at the 2nd Junior National Championship at Haryana in which my sister also participated. She has also played for the National level championship in Gujarat and state level championships and won a few gold medals.” Sadia has dedicatedly chosen sports as her career and wants to make her country proud by getting more medals. “I don’t want to be a doctor or an engineer, my dream is to represent the country at International events and win gold for J&K and the country in Olympics.” She said that sports keeps us away from mental agonies like anxiety, stress and depression and all the parents in the valley should encourage their wards to take an active part in sports. Sadia added that it was her mother’s and her own dream to represent herself at the international platform and her dream came true by bagging the gold medal at the international platform. She hoped that the government will extend every support to female sportspersons and provide them a platform to showcase their unique talent. The star Wushu player also made a fervent appeal to all parents of J&K to support and encourage their wards particularly girls in sports.