“I had to accept. I did my D-License too but then I pursued my playing career.". "We have reached a position now where it's not easy for them to attack us," Mr Para says. "A police officer used abusive language towards us and then slapped one of my players. "We live in a conservative region," says Waheed Rehman Para, youth president and spokesman of J&K Peoples Democratic Party. Afshan is … She was still wearing that when she went for training. This conflict can be in the form of racism, communalism- ultimately, they all end in the same way. "People asked if they were some kind of artwork or had some religious significance," says Irfan Aziz Botta, J&K's chief rugby coach. EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Mehru Nisa as Soliha Yousuf. She finds the whole stone-pelting affair a bit embarrassing and feels it distracts from her on-field skills. Asked what they're finding most difficult about the sport, the teenagers answer in unison: "Catching the ball!". This is not the first time images of young stone-pelting girls have emerged from the Valley. "My life has not been the same after that, people know me now" - both the good and the bad. "I have asked Real Kashmir, 'when are you starting a team?' Afshan rued the lack of facilities and coaches in Kashmir and said that hinders the growth of players and also depletes interest into the game for women overall. She said there are many talented girls and all they need is game time and the experience of tournaments. Read more about Let elders deal with bigger issues: CM Mehbooba Mufti to Kashmir students on Business Standard. "I love it," she says. "After that incident, when I went for training, I thought nobody would know that it was me, but the sports secretary came and said 'you are famous on social media now'. On the face of it, Ms Nisa's dream of playing for India, like Ms Ashiq's and Ms Ayoub's, may seem like a betrayal of Kashmir's drive for independence. This is when some photographers covering the protest clicked Afshan Ashiq and the picture went viral on social media in December 2017. A photograph that captured her hurling stones in rage at policemen has become the new defining image of stone pelters in the valley. “We have this mentality that girls can't play and I used to tell them (the J&K association) that give me a ground anywhere, I will train them and they used to say we can't give you an open ground.” After a lot of struggle, she managed to get the TRC ground from the government to train girls. Afshan played two matches in the IWL before being sidelined with an injury. I wanted that if my girls train everyday, they should get also get to play in some tournaments in order to get experience but there were too many issues around it.”. Ludhiana: They say first impression is the last impression. They want to play at the highest level available to them, which is the Indian national team. I would like very much to play for India.". The girls had been training for 15 days in the camp. Apart from this league, I play 5-a-side and 7-a-side tournaments. In 15 days, you can't become a good football player. He then allowed me to go out and I could play again.". "After two months, my dad came to know about the incident and I was not allowed to leave home for one month. "They were smashing into each other like cars!". Be it the opponent parties in the Kashmir […] Now they support me fully.". I had my own club, Unique Football Girls, where I used to train 150 girls. (Ms Ashiq is very excited: "Athiya Shetty is playing me," she swoons.). I want to play for India and this and the Nationals are the only ways to get selected for the national camp.". Ms Ashiq, the stone-pelting goalie, agrees — though she puts it in a slightly more telling way. Speaking at the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Conclave in Srinagar, Rajnath said, "When I was in Delhi, I met AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), Boris Johnson says he is 'deeply sorry' as UK passes 100,000 coronavirus deaths, For stranded Australians trying to get home, it's not just what you know, but who, Fears of another Juukan Gorge incident as Rio Tinto seeks to mine sacred Apache site with BHP, 'Manipulation of your mind has most lasting impact', says sex abuse survivor Grace Tame, 'Criminal violence must stop': Dutch police arrest 184 on third night of violence, 'It's been a very long time waiting': New citizens celebrate as Australia Day commemorated, 'Proud Boy' detained as thousands attend Melbourne Invasion Day rally, Heading back to the office? Today Ms Ashiq is the captain for the J&K state women's squad and goalie for a Mumbai team in the Indian Women's League. Many of the girls aren't eating, Mr Botta says, and with the sun still high in the afternoon sky, are beginning to flag in anticipation of the fast-breaking iftar meal. Mr Para was inspired to create the program, modelled on the Australian Sports Commission, by the division and conflict he saw in his state's young people. 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According to media reports, Athiya will now be seen in footballer Afshan Ashiq’s biopic ‘Hope Solo’, in which she is playing the title role. She said her coach from J&K, Satpal Singh, had asked her to sign from Kolhapur. Afshan got into coaching on the advice of her coach who told her that there are no women coaches in Jammu and Kashmir. She was labelled as a stone-pelter and her story became that of a 'stone-pelter-turned footballer'. "It's also the best way I can represent Kashmir to the rest of India and the world.". I was playing for J&K last year and before that I played for Mumbai in the qualifier. More than 70 years after the partition of India and Pakistan, many feel India's governance of Kashmir is better described as an occupation. In April last year, Ms Ashiq was escorting female soccer players to training in her home state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) when she clashed with police. The film was directed by Debamitra Biswal. अफशां आशिक की एक फोटो दिसंबर 2017 में सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल हुई थी। उस तस्वीर में वह जम्मू-कश्मीर पुलिस पर पत्थर फेंकती दिख रही थीं। Just 24 years old, Afshan runs a club called Unique Football Girls in Srinagar where around 150 girls receive training. Before pursuing her playing career outside the state, she used to coach the girls there and that was a massive struggle in itself. "There is the conflict and then there's sport," he says. "I wanted to play but my coach suggested that there rarely are women coaches in our state and I talked to parents and they wanted a woman to coach their girls. Incidentally, the chief minister had on Saturday met 21-year-old football coach Afshan Ashiq. Just tell them what happened'. Once known as an irate student leader, today she is the poster girl for every football fan in Jammu and Kashmir. The 52 sports range from already established favourites like cricket and soccer, to lesser-known options like gymnastics and mountaineering. Nadia Nighat, apart from me, also got a D license. A photograph that captured her hurling stones in rage at … Incidentally, the chief minister had yesterday met 21-year-old football coach Afshan Ashiq. Can AI And Facial Recognition Keep Women Safe In UP? Kashmiri footballer Afshan Ashiq learnt that the hard way as she struggles to overcome the image that thrust her into the limelight for the wrong reasons. A photograph that captured her hurling stones in rage at policemen has become the new defining image of stone-pelters in the valley. Then there is this Roots Premier League happening there so we play three months for that too”. Afshan Ashiq is a rising soccer star, but it was a rock thrown at a policeman that scored her viral fame and a Bollywood spin-off. I used to train them at the TRC Ground.”, "Right now one of my colleagues at Unique Football Girls, Masood, he is taking care of the girls. The opening sentence of the article reads, “As a disgruntled student, Afshan Ashiq led other girls in throwing stones at the police on Srinagar streets.” The sentence leads the reader to believe that Ashiq, through her student years, was a consistent and active stone-pelter and leader. 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This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Incidentally, the chief minister had yesterday met 21-year-old football coach Afshan Ashiq. "I was labelled as a stone pelter-turned into footballer, but I have always been a footballer, that was just one day,” she told News18.com at the sidelines of Indian Women’s League, where she played for FC Kolhapur City. Earlier, the clamor for governor’s control in violence-hit Kashmir is likely growing. The event organized by Union Ministry of … They (police) abused us, slapped my students. Previous to Afshan's current city of Carrollton, TX, Afshan Baledina lived in The Colony TX. Conflict between young people and authorities is common in the streets of Srinagar. Getting women onto the field was a top priority for the young politician who spearheaded the state's sports program in 2016. If it were a part of Pakistan, they would want to play for Pakistan. "It's the first question they ask in every interview.". But Mr Botta disagrees. Afshan herself played with boys when she was growing up and received formal coaching at Lonestar Kashmir first and later RKFC, which started in 2015. In the ongoing Indian Women's League (IWL), she was sidelined with an injury. I want to play for a team from my state," Afshan quipped. Yet some fear this new-found focus on sport unwisely redirects young people's focus away from the struggle against Indian control. Media made that kind of odd narrative and I was like 'please remove that label'," she said. "In the town where I am from, it isn't normal for a young woman to leave her home to learn how to play rugby," says Irtiqa Ayoub, 23, who has become one of Kashmiri rugby's leading lights. 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