A Journey Through Curfews & Politics: Kashmir’s First Female Taekwondo Athlete, Afreen Hyder Aims Paris Olympics 2024 Medal For India – EXCLUSIVE
New Delhi: Imagine a female athlete, who has grown up facing curfews and lockdowns, has been a victim of politics of the sport federations and unconditionally practising day in and out just for the love of her country, so that one day she can represent her nation at the biggest stage. Kashmir’s first ever female Taekwondo athlete, Afreen Hyder is making head turns in the combat sports game and is setting a big example to all the girls of India, who wants to pursue a career in sports. The 23-year old has been an All India Rank 1 holder and have also proved herself as among the Top 100 female Taekwondo athletes of the world.
Taekwondo in India is currently going through a rough patch as two Federations, Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) and India Taekwondo are playing a cat and mice race in the quest to become the country’s primary board. TFI is affiliated under the Sports Ministry and IOA, while India Taekwondo has been recognised by the Taekwondo World Federation and the Asian Union. The constant battle between the two associations have put the participation of Asian Games athletes under jeopardy and despite of less number of competitive matches played, there has been no shortage in Afreen’s will-power. She has won medals at international G1 and G2 tournaments and even bagged a bronze medal at the Senior National Championships in Feb 2023. But her ultimate dream is to win a medal for India at the Olympics and it’s her passion that keeps her going.
India.com caught up with the youngster in an exclusive interaction, where she talks about her career, sports culture in Kashmir, future aspirations and the conflict between the two federations.
1) How did Taekwondo came about ? What made you choose the sport ?
It just started randomly. I was 7 years old when I saw some players practicing Taekwondo at my school. I was always more into action movies because of my dad and after getting to know the sport, I made up my mind that I want to do this. It was back in 2007, when my Taekwondo journey started.
2) Since you’re the first female Taekwondo athlete from Kashmir, what were the challenges you had to face initially ?
It was a struggle for me as I had no mentor. There was no professional hand to show me the right track. I had no coach initially but I was blessed to have my parents. My mother specially has been a backbone for me. But overall when we talk about Kashmir, the first thing that gets into my mind is curfews, lockdown and all these things. So you can understand, we had to face a lot. Due to this I had to miss many school and national games due to the political lockdowns. It is actually a big loss for me that I couldn’t participate much in school games. But now things are much better and are progressing.
3) How is the sports eco-system, specially for girls in Kashmir ?
When I started playing nationals, I was the single girl in the whole team. Back in the day, parents actually did not allow their children to play much. It is not like for girls, the boys had to go through the same thing. The parents were in constant fear that their kids might get stuck due to the curfews. Obviously, when it comes to girls, the mindset was more conservative. During my time, the girls who used to play well, didn’t get the proper support from their parents as they thought the sport as a manly sport and what they will do anyway by throwing punches and stuff like that. As of now, if you see in Kashmir, we have more champions in girls compared to the boys. It is actually a good thing for us.
4) A Taekwondo athlete, you look up to him/her as a role model ?
I always used to get inspired by international athletes. But I have my coach, Master Syed Hassan Razey, who is from Afghanistan. I presently train under him in Gurgaon. He’s a former world champion and an inspiration to all of us. If someone from Afghanistan can break into the World Championships and get a medal, so why can’t we ??
5) What is the daily life of a Taekwondo athlete is like ? How do you keep yourself in the best of shapes during off seasons ?
It is a struggle, trust me (laughs). But we have to be motivated all time, get up early and do the strength and conditioning. We have to take care of our diet and the supplements. The whole support system is behind us, be it the nutritionist, psychologists and S & C coaches and also the supplementation. We train around 7-8 hours a day. During off-season, we focus more on our strength training and power sessions as in combat sports, we go through a lot of injuries.
6) What is the future of Indian Taekwondo ?
If we see the whole world in general, we see a lot of participation in Taekwondo and many other Olympic Sports. As far as India is concerned, we have two Federations and there is these dirty politics where we athletes have to suffer. Few months ago, we had this Asian Games trails. Those who made the cut are actually not sure whether they will play or not. Because there are so much going on between the two Federations. TFI (Taekwondo Federation of India) is affiliated under Sports Ministry and IOA and India Taekwondo is recognised by the World Federation and the Asian Union. I cannot explain what will happen in the future. We are actually doing this unconditionally and we are not expecting anything back. Passion is what drives us and we will keep going no matter what.
7) You’ve always mentioned that you want to represent India at the 2024 Olympics. So we are less than an year away and how’s been the preparations ?
Preparations for the Olympics are at it’s peak now. We’ve been preparing for, I don’t know how many years. India is yet to see a Taekwondo Olympian in the Summer Olympics. Aruna Tanwar made it to the Paralympics in the last edition though. We are trying our level best so that we can set an example for our juniors. We never had a World Champion as well and only had one medallist in the Asian Games. We are nowhere near the framework and so we want our India to grow and come out of these politics. We are looking forward for the Olympic qualifications this year.
8) How is Myprotein helping you achieve your goals ??
Myprotein has been the best thing happened to me. A Supplement is something that an athlete needs. I have tried a lot of products. I have got the results and noticed a change in my body and my overall fitness. It has really helped me in my journey so far.
9) Well, franchise tournaments seems to be the future of Indian sports. In combat sports, we have seen Indian boxing following an IPL style league. How does a franchise Indian Taekwondo League sound to you ?
It would be good. Recently, a similar kind of league was held, something I was very shocked to know. It’s a good thing that athletes are getting to play as there are a lot of politics between our two federations. After 2019, we didn’t play any games and it was only in 2022, we again started playing national games. If we talk about other countries, they have these league matches every Saturday. That is why they are progressing more because they have the competitive urge. The more matches we play, the better we will get.
10) You have been an All India Rank 1 holder, you’ve ranked among the top 100 players in the world, have made your country proud by winning medals at various G1, G2 tournaments. So what are the next few tournaments you will be playing in the coming months.
I had an injury last year and for few months I couldn’t compete and as a result my rank went down. In the senior nationals, I had to switch between weights and obviously it wasn’t a good thing for me. I was actually focusing on Asian Games but unfortunately I didn’t qualify. My next target would be the Olympic qualifications obviously and in the next month we will have the nationals for the other federation.
11) Lastly, despite of all the hardships in life, what keeps Afreen going ?
It is my dedication and passion towards Taekwondo (laughs). I just want to hear my national anthem at the podium of the Olympics or a World Championships. That is what I want and that’s what keeps me going.