DANISH MANZOOR
Hailing from the North Kashmir town of Baramulla, Mr Danish was a school student when Taekwondo piqued interest in him. Like many other sports enthusiasts of his age, he too signed up with the district association under the tutelage of Mr Ashfaq Ahmad Wani, his coach, whom he holds in great admiration.
In a matter of days, Mr Wani discovered an extraordinary zeal in him. Soon Mr Danish began outperforming his peers at training sessions. The tremendous efforts he invested impressed his coach so much that he would assign separate timings for him. Ever since he was first fielded in 2011 in the Taekwondo tournaments, Mr Danish had no looking back. In 2011, he participated in State-Level Federation Games where he bagged gold and once again in the same year when North-India National was held in Srinagar. He had participated under 45 kg category. A year later, in 2012, State Games kicked off again but unfortunately, that time, Mr Danish couldn’t compete owning to muscle pull and calf-muscle injury. He is the only young participant from J & K state to have fared fourth in all India level Taekwondo tournament. He is a proud recipient of 15 gold medals.
The journey of Mr Danish has not been an easy one. He is not much financially sound that he could afford requisite body gears/ equipments. In years that followed, he practiced with perseverance even though he was severely short of gears/ equipments. Mr Danish recollects “I used to wear flip-flops on my hands instead of the pads that I was supposed to’’. In absence of requisite body gear, Danish and his colleagues had really tough time to go through. Mr Danish is of the opinion that…. if the resolve of a person is strong then no number of obstacles can stop him. He aspires to serve as an inspiration for the youth of Kashmir.
