Valley girl wins laurel in South Korea

Abid Khan

Srinagar, Mar 3: Syed Haniya Zehra, a young skier of valley, has written a new chapter in the sports history of valley. She won the gold medal in the international ski event held at Pyoengchang in South Korea which was held from February 17 to 26. Haniya, a class 9th student of Mallinson School, participated in Alpine of the championship named as 2009 Dream Pyoengchang. Haniya won gold medal in the event in which 140 skiers from about 29 countries participated. “I cannot express the feeling what I had when I touched the finish line and my timing was judged as best. I was so happy that I jumped in air and made huge shouts, it was instant reaction and I don’t think I will do that again,” she said. Haniya was selected for the event after she won the bronze medal in the junior national championship held at Narkanda in Himachal Pradesh last year. She had won two gold and one silver medals earlier at state level competitions held in Gulmarg. Haniya, who started skiing when she was studying in class five, is being trained by Manzoor Ahmad Ladakhi. Haniya says that Gulmarg has the best quality of snow and slopes but the development facilities are almost nothing. “In Gulmarg, we have got the powdered soft snow which better than what it was in Korea where it is of crystal type. I have been hearing from foreigners about Gulmarg snow being best in the world but in Korea I saw it myself how much different it is really.” “In Gulmarg we need to put on more ski lifts and their should be heavy relaxation for skiers in Gondola. In Korea I saw how the officials treat skiers and the encouragement they get from officials is really heartwarming. They have well maintained slopes and have put ski lifts in huge numbers their” she said. Apart from skiing Haniya has been brilliant in other sports disciplines as well and has represented state in the Kho-Kho national in Orissa. “Skiing is my passion but I am good also in other sports. In Kho-Kho, I have represented state but I give most time to skiing and I think my future lies in it” Haniya says. Father of medalist, Syed Gowhar is all praise to Winter Games Federation of India but don’t have same word of praise for JK body and other sports departments. “After getting selection I went from place to place in valley for getting skiing equipments for Haniya but got refusal from everyone. After the intervention of higher official tourism department gave one pair of ski but that was outdated and was refused by WGFI officials in Delhi. Apart from equipments the cost from Srinagar to Delhi and stay was bared by us from our own pocket no one helped” he said. He said that if same thing goers on and meritorious players are not been supported like what they should get then future of sports is bleak in valley. “Accept Shabir Ahmad Wani who is office bearer of WGFI no one helped my child. If I could not have beared the expenses of my child then she would have achieved what she has” he said.
published in Greater Kashmir on Mar 4: link http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=4_3_2009&ItemID=1&cat=4