A government employee from Awantipora , district Pulwama has bagged gold and bronze in Senior Mixed Double and Mixed Team Championship in second National Curling Championship held at Ice-Skating Rink in Gulmarg.
Showkat Rasool of Bhat Mohalla Larkipora, Awantipora who is currently working in JK Board of Technical Education wants to represent India in the Winter Olympic Games and World Championships.
Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), he said that he was happy to win a Gold and Bronze medal, saying he started playing the game when he was in class 7.
Bhat said that it was a great experience to learn from international coaches like PN Raju and Kisan and will work hard to perform well in upcoming Khelo India winter games.
“My federation Head is supporting Mohd Arshad sir and Secretary General Mohd Danish always supported me and recommended the International Training Camp to be held in April 2023 at Sweden. I am very happy to win this medal and am trying to work hard and further excel and perform well at the mega stages,” he added.
On being asked about sports infrastructure in JK, he said, “JK is the only UT in India having Highest altitude Natural Ice-Skating Rink infrastructure and Curling Federation of India CEO Mr Mohd Arshad has kept enough International Level Equipment required for the Game at Gulmarg for whole Country.
CEO Mohd Arshad already purchased two more sets from Canada for the Khelo India Winter Games.
He said that there is a need to get involved in sports especially in Curling in order to teach the youth of JK and involve unemployed educated youth to be self- employed by planning to open Curling School at Gulmarg.
“Our youth are very talented and there is a need to provide them with a platform and support them so that they won’t face any problem in reaching to mega stages,” he added—(KNO)