Jahangeer Ganaie
Pulwama, Jan 21: A young girl from South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has brought laurels to the whole of Jammu and Kashmir by winning a gold medal in National Thang-Ta Championship 2025.
Sheebu Ashraf (20), a resident of Kakapora area of Pulwama, a B A student, won the gold medal in 30th sub junior and senior national championship 2025 held at Haridwar Uttrakhand.
Speaking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Sheebu said that she was interested in sports since her childhood and started practicing for Thang-Ta when she was 11.
“I got inspired towards this game from one of my friends,” she said, adding that her parents had supported her while her coach Sajad Ahmad Dar has helped her to excel in this game. “Day by day, achieving my goal is becoming easier,” she said.
“I have taken part in several national games including two in Delhi, Chandigarh, J&K, Kanyakumari and many other places where I have won several medals,” she said.
She said that for the 30th Thang-Ta Championship, there was a camp in Srinagar for 21 days following which she visited Utrakhand this month where she managed to win the gold medal.
“Winning a medal at any level always encourages you to work hard and do better in coming events and winning the gold is always special and I am hopeful that I will excel further in upcoming events,” she said.
Sheebu, who belongs to a financially weak family, said that parents’ support is must to achieve any goal and they must support their children to make their future bright.
“Jammu and Kashmir is grappling with drug menace and engaging the younger generation in sports activities will help us to keep them away from drug and other anti-social activities, so there is need to engage more and more youth in sports activities,” she added.
Sheebu said that in terms of infrastructure, J&K is very behind as compared to other states, however, infrastructure is being updated and hopefully it will upgraded to a level where no body faces any problems in terms of infrastructure—(KNO)
