Mansha Bashir from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district is an international gold medalist in taekwondo.
Very unusual of girls in Kashmir to choose sports as their career, but Mansha decided to go against the flow and she is now a celebrated name in the world of sports, having represented Kashmir in six national and eight international championships.
Mansha lost her father when she was just three day’s old. With her mother being the only person to look after her, Mansha drew inspiration from the struggling life of her mother.
“My mother faced lot of criticism when she was at my back to support me in choosing taekwondo as a career, but she never looked back and helped me in following my dreams.” Said Mansha while talking to “The Kashmir Radar” correspondent Umran Hussain.
Crediting the techniques of time management to her coach, Jade Jones, Mansha says, he (coach) has been a great inspiration for her.
“The overwhelming support I received from my coach is worth mentioning, he proved to be a Messiah for me especially in my testing times.” Says Mansha.
Pertinently, Mansha is the first girl from Jammu and Kashmir to have completed NS NIS in taekwondo through the sports authority of India.
“Being a girl you have to choose between your career and the society, because our society doesn’t provide us a space to move forward in the field we wish to.” Said Mansha while talking about the stigma sportswomen in Kashmir are supposed to live with.
Mansha, after years of resilience, perseverence and dedication has now achieved the feat of being a coach and interestingly she is currently imparting training to more than 500 students free of cost.
In addition to taekwondo, Mansha is preparing for civil service examination as she wishes to fulfill the dream of her mother, who longs to see her achieve what she deserves.
Mansha has a message for all those girls who want to live their dream, “you many have some bad days in your life, but it is you who can turn them into good.”
