Right now Heena Nasreen (14), Delhi’s kickboxing champion, is in Bangkok with six other martial art players representing India in the first ever Asian Martial Art Games 2009 (April 25-May 3). This inaugural event has attracted over 2,500 fit and fully-trained martial arts exponents from 42 countries who will face-off to vie for gold, silver and bronze medals in nine martial art sports — karatedo, kickboxing, muai, wushu and kungfu, jujitsu, pencak silat, judo, taekwondo, and kurash.
A class VIII student of the state government’s Sarvodaya Vidyalaya School, Alipur, Heena won her first international kickboxing gold in Nepal in 2007. Now she is determined to strike gold in Bangkok as well.
“I am putting in many hours of practice and hope to bring glory to my country,” says Heena, who took to kickboxing four years ago when she was ten years old. Since then, she has bagged 15 gold medals won in state, national and international events. Qualifying for the Asian Martial Art Games was a cakewalk for Heena as she breezed through the national qualifying trials, besting 150 entrants. Apart from her, one girl and six boys are in the Thai capital fighting for precious metal.
“Heena’s talent was spotted five years ago when she was the star kabaddi player of her school, capable of tackling three-four girls easily in this very Indian sport. Her build and stamina prompted a school teacher to introduce her to martial arts,” recalls her father Chaman Shah, a shopfloor employee in a private firm in the national capital.
Born into a Muslim household, Heena had to prevail upon her extended family to permit her to engage in combat sport. “However, by citing the example of tennis champ Sania Mirza who has won respect for Muslims and India, I was able to persuade my family. I owe a great debt to my parents, coach Kuldeep Sumnakshar and teachers who have all been very supportive,” says Heena who has a rigorous four hour practice routine everyday.
Heena’s sole regret, expressed on the eve of her departure for Bangkok, is that while her family has made every effort to develop her into a kickboxing cham-pion, little support has come from government, profes-sional bodies and corporates in terms of sponsorships. “India has talent which can excel in the martial arts in the next Asian Games and London Olympics 2012. But it needs to be encouraged and developed. I am a positive dreamer,” she says.
With Indian boxers having bagged medals and national attention in the Beijing Olympics 2008, she believes it’s a matter of time before Asian martial art sports are recognised by the International Olympics Association. “When that happens, I’ll be ready,” says Heena.
Way to go, girl!
Autar Nehru (Delhi)