The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is striving hard to carve a space on the country’s sports map, witnessed a mixed fortune for sports in the year 2022. On the one hand, the players of
some prominent medal winning sports disciplines continued their brilliance at the National and International scene, and on the other hand, the UT witnessed a customary dismal show in most of the
games at the National level. As usual, Wushu led from the front in the medal winning race, while gymnastics, fencing and judo are a few more disciplines to name. As for as the game of Cricket is
concerned; in J&K, though cricket is being played in courts rather than on playgrounds, yet J&K’s Senior Men’s, U-25 Men’s and U-19 Men’s teams created history by qualifying for the knockout stages, while some players gave outstanding individual performances. However, in the development of sports infrastructure, J&K remained at the top in 2022. Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB)
also contributed in promoting sports and games. The major highlights of sports in 2022 were constitution of J&K’s Sports Policy, Umran’s Team India cut and fencer Shreya’s excellence at national scene. RAJESH DHAR sums up the sports scenario in Jammu and Kashmir in the year that passed away.
Umran makes Team India cut
J&K’s speed sensation Umran Malik made his International debut in June 2022 during India’s tour of Ireland, following a fantastic show in IPL 2022. The SunRisers Hyderabad Speedster had picked up 22 wickets and showcased improved control, variation, while working under mentor Dale Steyn at SRH.
Legendary fast bowlers- Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis and Darren Gough said that India’s decision to not consider Umran Malik for the T20 World Cup in the Australian conditions did surprise them, saying they would have loved to see the Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler unleashed on pace-rich and bouncy pitches Down Under.
Brett Lee had said that Umran Malik’s non selection and Cameron Green’s absence from the Australian squad for the T20 World Cup are two major surprising selection calls by the teams in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.
Anyway, Umran now seems good enough to represent India in all three formats of the game.
J&K frames it’s own sports policy
The Jammu and Kashmir government framed new J&K Sports Policy, 2022, incorporating awards for excellence in sports, special cash awards for winners of international championships and annual recruitment of outstanding sportspersons.
To promote sporting culture and harness the energy of the youth in Jammu and Kashmir, the new policy is aimed at promoting sports in the union territory by developing sports infrastructure and incentivising sportspersons to excel in their craft.
The policy strives to achieve excellence by involving all stakeholders and establishing inter-departmental synergies for composite development of sports. The basic cannons of the policy are to ‘scout’ – identify talent and catch them young; ‘engage’ – ensure grassroots inclusive engagement in sports and games; ‘facilitate’ – provide sports infrastructure, facilities, know-how, and training; and ‘recognise’ – acknowledge the achievements and contributions through awards and further employment.
The policy incorporates various annual awards like those for excellence in sports, for sports associations, and for best coaches in different disciplines.
To further motivate the UT’s sporting talent, the sports policy announces special cash awards to the winners in Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Championship, World Cup, championships, Youth Olympic Games, South Asian Games, and World University Games or Championships in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
Winners in all recognised national competitions and national school games in various sports disciplines will be granted specified scholarships.
The then Principal Secretary to Government, Youth Services and Sports Department, Alok Kumar; Secretary Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul and the then Director Youth Services and Sports, Gazanfar Ali deserve salutation for constituting this policy as they left no stone unturned under the overall supervision of the then Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan.
Chain Singh wins Silver in Shooting World Cup
J&K’s ace shooter Chain Singh along with other talented shooters of the country including Sanjeev Rajput and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar clinched Silver medal in the Men’s 3-Position (3P) team event in the ISSF Shooting World Cup at Changwon in South Korea.
The Indian trio, which had finished second in the qualification stage, faced a strong Czech Republic team in the gold medal match. But despite putting up a good fight, the Indians went down 12-16 to the trio of Petr Nymbursky, Filip Nepejchal, and Jiri Privratsky.
It is pertinent to mention here that Chain Singh is a resident of Bhalessa (Doda), who represented India in the Shooting World Cup and excelled along with other team members in 50 Metres Rifle 3-Position team event, wherein more than 90 countries were participating.
With this achievement, Chain Singh brought laurels to Jammu and Kashmir and the country as well.
Handoo’s magic continues: Abhishek wins gold; Sadia, Chishti blossom
J&K Wushu team topped the place in the 36th National Games with 6 medals, Services remained 2nd. The team was imparted training by Dronacharya Awardee Kuldeep Handoo.
Abhishek Singh Jamwal secured the lone Gold medal for J&K in the National Games, while J&K’s Sadia Tariq came up with a brilliant performance to win the gold medal in the Moscow Wushu Stars Championship which was held in the Russian capital in February 2022.
, who hails from Srinagar, is a two-time gold medalist in the Junior National Wushu championship. Sadia won the gold medal in the Wushu Championship in Moscow by defeating a local favourite at the event, which is the approved event in the Annual Calendar Training and Competition of the Sports Authority of India.
Meanwhile, Ayeera Hassan Chisti secured Bronze medal in the 8th Junior World Wushu Championships at Indonesia, thus bringing laurels to the Union Territory. J&K Wushu team remained overall second in the 31st Senior National Wushu Championship at Srinagar. Surya Bhanu Partap, Abhishek Singh Jamwal, Rajinder Singh and Sahil Sambyal secured gold medals in the Championships, thus have been reserved for the National Wushu Coaching Camps for the Asian Games, World Championships etc.
Gymnasts put J&K on International sports map
Ace Gymnast Bavleen represented Country in Commonwealth Games at Birmingham in July, 2022 and Senior Asian Gymnastics Championships at Bangkok in June 2022.
Muskan Rana, Himani Gupta, Vaibhavi Sharma, Shivangi, Jagriti Thakur and Manya Sharma also represented Country in Junior Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at Pattaya Bangkok in June, 2022.
Muskan Rana won three Silver Medals in Khelo India Youth Games at Ambala in June, 2022.
Gymnasts namely Gourav Chettri, Dhruv Dewan, Yaadavi Mahajan and Sudipti Khanna represented Country in the Sr. Asian Aerobic Gymnastics Championships at Bangkok in September, 2022.
During National Aerobic Gymnastics Championships at Bangalore in March, 2022, Gymnasts Gourav Chettri and Yaadavi Mahajan won bronze in Mix pair of senior category, Laksh Mahajan got Silver in Individual man, Suryansh Sharma, Laksh & Vikas won bronze in trio.
The Team comprising of Manvinder Singh, Kamal Singh, Honey Mehra, Parul Mehra, Mayank Jain, Sahil Sahi and Inderdeep Singh won Silver medal
Recently Muskan Rana also was declared all-round best Gymnast of the Country and won 2 Gold & 3 Silver Medals during Junior National Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at Bangalore from 16-18, December, 2022 Team comprising of Muskan, Vaibhavi, Manya and Jagriti also won Silver medal in Team Championships.
In Seniors Category, team comprising of Stuti Gupta, Vandhana, Sneha Dewan & Viomini Dogra also won Silver medals in team Championship.
Sneha Gupta also won Bronze medal in the National Games at Gujarat in 2022. This year total 11 Gymnasts represented Country in various International Championships including prestigious Commonwealth Games. Krupali Patel Singh was also the Coach of Indian team for Commonwealth Games at Birmingham 2022 & Asian Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships at Pattaya Bangkok 2022.
Cyclist Akbar Khan selected as NTO for Asian Track Cycling C’ship
Cyclist and Physical Training Instructor (PTI) GDC Soibugh, Dr Mohd Akbar Khan was 
selected as the National Technical Official (NTO) for the 41st Asian Track Cycling Championship held at Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi from June 18 to June 22, 2022.
Cycling Federation of India conducted a two-week online course for technical officials. Dr Khan got selected after completing the course and qualified for the exam conducted by the Cycling Federation of India.
29-year- old Akbar hails from Check-i-Kawoosa, in central Kashmir’s Budgam district has given cycling a facelift in Kashmir and has also bagged the J&K State award in 2017 for his contribution to cycling (Sports).
Khan, an acclaimed cyclist, started cycling in 2006 and since then he has been a cyclist for more than a decade and always wanted to study cycling for a better understanding of the sport.
Adil cycles from Leh to Manali in record time
Cyclist from Kashmir, Adil Teli, set a new world record for covering the distance from Leh to Manali in the fastest time ever. The 24-years-old covered the 470 kms distance in 29 hours 18 minutes and 21 seconds.
Adil broke the record of Bharat Panu, who had clocked 35 hours 32 minutes and 22 seconds to cover the distance in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic in October 2020.
“It was the toughest journey of my career and the situation became all the more difficult because of the road was pathetic,” Teli said.
The cyclist did not sleep even for a bit during his 29-hour ride to Manali. He was accompanied by a seven-member crew.
Adil Teli also holds the record for completing a 440 kms Srinagar to Leh ride in 26 hours and 30 minutes, besides boasting of the record of cycling from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in just 8 days 1 hour and 37 minutes.
Professionalism in JKCA
Utter professionalism and transparency in selection process in Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), have helped J&K Union Territory to create cricketing history by qualifying for the knockout stage of all three important men’s formats including Senior, U-25 and U-19 Men’s One-Day Tournaments played by JKCA under the auspices of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) across various venues this season.
In the Vijay Hazare Trophy One-Day format for seniors, Jammu and Kashmir made it to the knockout phase by defeating Ranji Trophy champion Madhya Pradesh, formidable Baroda, Odisha, Uttarakhand and minnows Arunachal Pradesh. The players like Shubham Khajuria, Vivrant Sharma, Fazil Rashid, Henan Nazir, Auqib Nabi, Abid Mushtaq, Abdul Samad, Yudhvir Singh and Sahil Lotra produced some stellar performances in Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Earlier, J&K blossomed in the U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy and qualified for the knockout stage. The players like Ranjot Singh, Rydham Sharma, Arya Thakur, Mohd Mousab, Udhay Partap Singh and Ritvik Jaitley played exceptionally well till the knockout stage.
Men’s Under-25 team also made it to the knockout phase in the Men’s State A Trophy this season. Musaif Ajaz, Vanshaj Sharma, Kanhaiya Wadhawan, Lone Nasir Muzaffar and Jiyaad Nazir Magray played brilliantly in the tournament.
One gets a feeling that the Talent Hunt 2022,. followed by the tournaments in various formats, coupled with the transparency and fairness in the selection process made all the difference.
The trio of Sub Committee Members of JKCA including Brig Anil Gupta, Mithun Manhas and Advocate Sunil Sethi, are leaving no stone unturned to make the system utterly professional and help the players to blossom.
There is a sea change in the scheme of things in JKCA under this dynamic administration.
SRH gets Vivrant for 2.60 crore; RCB buys Avinash, Yudhvir goes to Lucknow
J&K’s talented southpaw, Vivrant Sharma was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 2.60 crores, while speedsters Yudhvir Singh Charak and not much known Avinash Singh Manhas went to Lucknow Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for 20 lakhs and 60 lakhs respectively in the IPL Auction 2023 held at Kochi today.
The Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad were involved in the bidding war for Vivrant and finally SRH bought him for 2.60 crore.
Left-handed explosive opening batsman Vivrant also bowls leg-breaks. It is pertinent to mention here that Vivrant was recommended for trials by Abdul Samad, who had also suggested Umran Malik’s name to the franchise last year.
Avinash Singh Manhas, though has yet to represent the State/UT at the national scene, yet is learnt to be genuinely quick, who can hurl the ball around 150 kms per hour, while Yudhvir Singh has already represented Mumbai Indians in IPL and has now been bought by Lucknow Supergiants for 20 lakhs.
Fencer Shreya Gupta is unstoppable
Ace fencer of J&K, Shreya Gupta had a spectacular year 2022. With her stupendous performance, she brought laurels for India and J&K by winning 2 Junior international bronze medals in Asian Champi-onships at Uzbekistan in March and in Commonwealth Championship, Lon-don in August. Besides, Shreya Gupta participated in a number of International Cham-pionships like Senior world champions at Cairo in July, Senior Women Sabre World cup in Tunisia in May.
At National level, she won bronze by excelling in this year’s National Games in September-October. In first Khelo India ranking tournament in New Delhi, Shreya clinched Silver medal, In Senior Championship at Amritsar, she won Gold medal, besides a Gold and Silver in Junior National Fencing Championship in June.
At present she is on a three months training in Hungary after getting selected as an Elite TOPS Athlete this year. She is also playing 5 World Cups from there sponsored by Tops and having qualified for it.
DYSS organises historic LG Cricket Trophy
The Department of Youth Services and Sports organised historic LG Rolling Cricket Trophy and YSS Cup across all 20 districts of the Union Territory.
Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta inaugurated the UT wide Lieutenant Governor’s Rolling Trophy Cricket-2022 at Sher-e-Kashmir Cricket Stadium, Sonawar, organised by Mission Youth in collaboration with Youth Services and Sports Department.
On the occasion, the Chief Secretary had urged the participating youth to not only play themselves but involve their elders as well. He told them that participation in the game was more important than winning or losing the game. Dr Mehta observed that it was the happiest day for all of them to note that 38000 youth across all the districts of J&K have initially registered themselves for playing this tournament. He expressed that the Government is targeting 33 lakh youth to play any game of their interest in the times ahead.
Sports Council’s ‘My Youth My Pride’ events expand base
Moving ahead in its mission to take sports to the doorsteps of athletes, J&K Sports Council organised a series of sports activities across the Union Territory and completed the same smoothly and successfully.
The brainchild of Secretary J&K Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul, the initiative served as a launching pad in caterring to the needs of thousands of youth across the UT.
The competitions were organized in almost all the districts of the Union Territory as part of the ‘My Youth My Pride’ initiative of the Government.
Water Sports: Arafat, Mohsin sparkle; Vilayat bags Silver
Jammu and Kashmir paddlers Arafat and Mohsin proved themselves yet again, winning two bronze medals in the 33rd Canoe Sprint Championship 2022. It was historic win for Jammu and Kashmir as young players defeated strong opponents in the competition.Vilayat Hussain of J&K bagged Silver medal in Canoe Slalom at prestegious 36th National Games held in 2022. Coach Bilquis Mir has been instrumental in exploring Water Sports talent in the Union Territory. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Dragon Boat team won the Bronze Medal in 200 mtrs mixed race event, during the 9th National Dragon Boat Championship, held at Alappuzha, Kerala from 8th to 10th April 2022. J&K team was sponsored by Khyber Industries Pvt Ltd and co-sponsored by J&K Youth Services & Sports, HK Cements, TCI Cements, Kashmir Mahal Resorts, Elfa International and Ehsaas International.
Judoka Akshay represents India: Varun, Tazeem win bronze in Jr Nationals
Talented Judoka Akshay Sharma represented the country in Asian Cadet Judo Championship held at Bangkok in Thailand. He was selected on the basis of his splendid performance in the National Level Ranking Tournament held at Delhi.
Moreover, young Judokas Varun Sharma and Tazeem Fayaz brought laurels to the Union Territory by winning bronze medals in the Junior National Championship at Ranchi in Jharkhand.
Soham Kamotra blossoms
Promising Chess player, Soham Kamotra of Jammu and Kashmir won Gold Medal in U-18 Commonwealth Chess Championship, Bronze Medal in U-18 Asian Chess Championship, Gold Medal in U-18 National Championship. He also got his 1st International Master Norm this year.
Rakshanda, Vishal, Rakesh excel
Judokas Rakshanda Mehak, Vishal Khajuria and Rakesh Singh sparkled in Deaf Olympics-2022 at Brazil. Rakshanda bagged 5th place, while Vishal and Rakesh claimed 7th spot. Chief Judo Coach of J&K Sports Council, Suraj Bhan Singh deserves appreciation for the excellence of these Judokas.
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