Shopian , Nov 08 (KNO): A 19-year-old boy from Shopian has brought laurels to Jammu and Kashmir by bagging gold medal in Sqay martial art in 37th National Games held in Goa.
Faizan Ayoub Khan of Pinjoora village in Shopian who is pursuing BPE in Nagpur became first from J&K to win gold in the ongoing games.
Talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Khan said that he was happy to win the gold medal at the national level in martial arts once again as it gives him more confidence to perform at the international level as well.
He said that he has been interested in martial arts since his childhood and started his journey when he was just 13 and has been training young boys as well.
“I am very happy to win this medal and I am trying to work hard and further excel and perform well at the mega stages. So far I have won three gold medals at international level and these tournaments were played in Nepal, Bhutan and Thailand. I have won 30 gold medals at national level and five times a grand Champion trophy winner as well,” he added
For his achievements, Khan said that authorities have named a cricket stadium Faizan Ayoub Sports Stadium at Lanthoora in his name.
For winning gold medals at national level for consecutive years, the Sqay Federation of India has given him the title “Tiger of India”.
He said that to stay away from drug and anti-social activities, there is a need to get involved in sports and martial arts as engaging in sports activities is a must for mental and physical development.
According to him, youth are very much talented and there is need to provide them platform and support them so that they won't face any problem in reaching to mega stages and perform well there—(KNO)