SUNDAY, JANUARY 01, 2017 (PAGE-2) J&K on World Sports Map in specific disciplines Rajesh Dhar SPORTS YEAR-ENDER 2016 The State of Jammu and Kashmir which is striving hard to create a niche in the field of sports, had a mixed fortune in sports in the year 2016, with some extraordinary talented sportspersons keeping their State's and also the Country's flag high in some specific sports disciplines at the International scene and others failing to enhance their performance graph. As per the custom, the players of a few medal winning sports once again shone at the highest level and created records, while the players of most of the games took part in various sports events just for the sake of participation. Surya Bhanu Partap creates history Moreover, J&K emerged overall Champion in Under-14 State Roll Ball Nationals and bagged sabre bronze in Junior Nationals. The credit of producing International stuff in Fencing goes to players bring laurels Fencing coaches Shotu Lal and Rachna Jamwal. Representing India in the Meenal wins gold in Commonwealth C'ship Asian Championship held at Golden girl Meenal Bangkok recently, wherein Gupta won gold medal Indian team won gold in in Under-14 Common- women and silver in men, wealth Chess Champi- onship held in Sri Lan- Jammu and Kashmir State ka in the month of July Roll Ball players namely Rak- Ian Dev Singh Parvez Rasool Shubham Khajuria Hashim Mansoor and August, 2016. shak Jandial, Ankita Chopra Meenal, daughter of and Garvita Gupta brought chess promoter Atul laurels to the State as also to Kumar Gupta has an outstanding record at the Country. the domestic and The players attribute their Ace Wushu player, Surya Bhanu Partap Singh created his- National scene. For tory by winning silver in 8th World Cup at Xian China, gold success to Chairman, Techni- the achievement in in 11th SAF Games 2016, silver in Masters Challenge Cup and cal Committee Roll Ball Fed- Commonwealth Games, Meenal was honoured by Governor bronze in 5th Pars Cup at Iran, while another talented Wushu eration of India, Madhu Shar- NN Vohra and the First Lady and the Chief Minister of the player, Rajinder Singh bagged silver in 9th Asian Wushu State, Mehbooba Mufti in two different felicitation functions ma, who imparts training to Championship and bronze in 5th Pars Cup. Pardeep Kumar in Jammu recently. them in Jammu. Danish Sharma Vikas Gupta Satpal Singh Pardeep Kumar and Kamal Kishore also clinched bronze each in 11th SAF Games 2016 and 7th World Traditional Wushu Champi- Young Tajamul sparkles in World Kickboxing Gymnast Stuti Gupta shines onship at China respectively. Rasool, Ian, Shubham blossom Young Tajamul Islam, a Skipper of J&K Ranji Trophy team, Parvez Rasool Zargar Outstanding Gymnast of BSF School Paloura, participat- Handoo blossoms as Chief Coach of India girl from Bandipora in Val- emerged top all-rounder in India in Ranji Trophy 2016, while ed and performed well in 3rd Rhythmic Gymnastics Thailand ley clinched gold in Under-8 In 2016, Kuldeep Handoo, Chief Coach of Wushu in India, promising Shubham Khajuria and talented Ian Dev Singh Open Championship held in the month of November 2016. years category of World has the distinction of winning 11 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze Chauhan made their willow talk during the current season. Parvez She won 6thplace in the Championship and added another Kickboxing Championship medals as coach in 11th SAF Games 2016, 4 silver and 5 bronze took 38 wickets and scored 629 runs in Ranji Trophy 4-day match- feather to her cap. Her School Principal, Dr SK Shukla has held at Italy. For keeping the in 9th Asian Wushu Championship 2016 at Taiwan and 4 sil- es to be at the top among the all-rounders, Shubham scored 777 termed her achievement as the proud moment for the School Country's Flag high at the ver and one bronze in 8th World Cup at Xian in China. runs with two hundreds to be among the leading run getters and and the State as well. International scene, Taja- Ian contributed 702 runs with two tons in the season. Canoeists sparkle, Bilquis makes a mark mul was felicitated by Gov- Judoka Danish Sharma sparkles ernor, NN Vohra, Chief Min- J&K bags 2nd spot in Tennis Ball ister, Mehbooba Mufti and Judoka Danish Sharma clinched bronze in All India Inter- Minister for Sports, Molvi Cricket Nationals University Fencing Championship-2016. He attributes his suc- Imran Raza Ansari. cess to his coach Suraj Bhan Singh and mentor Vikas Gupta. Jammu and Kashmir emerged runners-up in both boys Boxers Pardeep, Ashish, Heena make and girls Junior National Tennis Ball Cricket Championship Vikas manages Indian Judo team India Camp cut held at Karnal, Haryana recently. J&K was defeated in both the finals by formidable Goa. Former outstanding Judoka and promoter of Judo in the Boxers Pardeep Sharma, Ashish Jasrotia and Heena State, Vikas Gupta represented Indian Judo team that par- Choudhary got the National selectors nod to find a place in Simrandeep takes unique initiative ticipated in Senior Asian Judo Championship held at India Camp. After performing brilliantly in the National Tashkent in Uzbekistan for qualifying in Rio Olympics as Championships, these boxers made to the India Camps. They of School Olympics manager. Ace India Judoka, Avtar Singh was picked from the are being imparted training by the Boxing coach, Anil Wad- Deputy Commissioner same Championship to represent the County in prestigious hera. Jammu, Simrandeep Singh, Olympic Games. Mehroosh, Aqsa, Hashim excel Chairman of Jammu District The State of Jammu and Kashmir won 5 gold, 4 silver and J&K State Sports Council, Satpal Singh clears FIFA Sr Coaching Course 3 bronze medals in National Canoe Polo, Canoe Slalom and Mehroosh Manzoor took a unique but very Outstanding Football Coach, Satpal Singh Kala became Dragon Boat Championships in 2016. Two paddlers were Paul, Aqsa Fareed Khan healthy initiative of organiz- selected for National Canoe Slalom Camp. The State canoeists the first coach from the State to clear prestigious FIFA Senior and Hashim Manzoor won ing School Olympics in the were trained and coached by Bilquis Mir, who has made a Coaching Course in August 2016. Satpal has the distinction medals in different Martial district with an objective to mark at National and International scene as a coach. promote Sports culture and of producing International stuff from the State in Mehrajudin Arts at the International provide opportunity to bud- Wadoo and Ishfaq Ahmad. He has also the reputation of being Fencers Tariq, Riya, Vansh dazzle Level. This is really a land- ding players to showcase very good organizer. Fencers Tariq Ahmad, Vansh Mahajan and Riya Bakshi mark achievement for their sporting talent. As In nutshell, J&K though, sparkled in most of the Martial made the State proud by representing the Country in World these boys and girls from many as 1500 girls and 2500 Art events and made the State proud in a few sports disci- Cup, Asian Championship and Open Tournament respective- the Valley. All these sports boys participated in this plines, yet the year 2016 witnessed dismal show by the play- ly. While Tariq represented India in Fencing World Cup, Riya icons have been honoured sports extravaganza in around ten sports disciplines includ- ers in most of the major games like hockey, football, basket- played in Asian Championship and Vansh represented the by the Government in dif- ing football, hockey, basketball, table tennis, kabaddi, athlet- ball, table tennis, cricket and athletics. Country in Open Tournament at Hong Kong and Thailand. ferent functions. ics and volleyball etc. Dipa Karmakar No, she did not win a medal, she won a million hearts. For years, India Sports 2016: did not have a female Olympian gym- India on the rise nast and Dipa made the nation proud when she qualified and as she vaulted Ravichandran 'Rajinikanth' Ashwin win's guile as the duo deflated many a lineup and caused pan- Boxing her way past the opponents in the ic and terrorised the opposition camp. Jaddu was quick, Jad- finals, Dipa was a sensation. She There are few thing that can go du was spot on and like the old saying, "If Ashwin doesn't get Vijender Singh, the ringmaster wrong with this man. The touch attempted the Produnova, a difficult you, Jaddu will." The southpaw recorded his best Test bowl- Indian Vijender Singh was called names when he gave up set, one even the most seasoned stay he's in, India's premier all-round- ing figure at the Chepauk recently, where he accounted for amateur boxing and opted for a pro er can bat, ball and take on the away from. When she narrowly seven English batsman in an innings and also picked up his career. But one must say, two missed the medal, a contestant said it's opposition with his razor sharp wit. maiden 10-wicket haul in a Test match. years later, the man still "Ashwin is the man," says the crowd. fitting to change the name Produnova stands undefeated. Singh has to the Karmakar vault! To top his phenomenal year, the Virat and Co. climb summit been tried eight times and Chennai born cricketer took home the It was only a matter of time for the Indian Test team to has come out a winner. His Tennis ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield grab the ICC mace. They did so by whitewashing the Kiwis latest win over Francis Sobers Trophy) and the ICC Test India shared some moment of glory in the French open two months ago.