Padma Shri Awarded Faisal Ali Dar
Faisal Ali Dar, a young martial arts instructor from Kashmir, was awarded the Padma Shri in 2022. Through his sports academy for martial arts, he hopes to empower young people in places affected by militancy.
Who is Faisal Ali Dar ?
Indian martial arts instructor Faisal Ali Dar is the first recipient of Jammu and Kashmir’s Padma Shri Award for sports. He received the national prize in recognition of his efforts to prevent teenage drug use and to promote sports through martial arts.
Since his school days, Dar had shown interest in several combat arts. Dar chose to focus only on martial arts after earning his degree from Bandipora Degree College in 2008 and chose not to seek for any government jobs. He believed that working for the government would limit his free time and prevent him from engaging in sports-related activities.
Faisal Ali Dar began his career in wushu, a type of martial arts, in 2003. It didn’t, nevertheless, take off. In 2008, he changed to kickboxing. He won a silver at the Asian kickboxing tournament two years later. This inspired him to begin teaching martial arts in Bandipora town.
He opened the Ali Sports Academy in Bandipora three years later. The martial arts academy, which bears his grandfather’s name, has locations in practically every district but lacks the necessary infrastructure. The Bandipora unit had about 150 kids enrolled in it in 2013. Dar was motivated by it to establish more schools in other districts.