Tajamul Islam

Some Lesser Known Facts About Tajamul Islam

• Tajamul Islam is an Indian kickboxer, who has clinched a gold medal in the World Kickboxing Championship twice. She is the youngest kickboxer in the world to achieve this feat and the first Kashmiri girl to do so.

• According to some reports, the Army Goodwill School in her village, Tarkpora, recognized her natural talent in kickboxing; however, Tajamul formally got into the sport in 2014, when she joined a local academy of martial arts and soon started training under her coach Faisal Ali Dar. Reports also revealed that Tajamul’s coach used to train her in the open fields during the bone-chilling weather, using only makeshift apparatus due to lack of infrastructure in Kashmir. ^[2]The Milli Gazette

  

• Her two sisters and one of her brothers also play kickboxing who have participated in many state-level championships. ^[3]The Economic Times

• Tajamul has won several accolades at the district, state, national, and international level kickboxing competitions. The athlete got her first major win in 2015 at the state-level championship held in Jammu. She won a gold medal in the sub-junior category in the championship. Following this, Islam participated in the 2015 National Kickboxing Championship, held at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi, and again won gold in the same category. ^[4]The Milli Gazette She said in an interview,
  

  This [kickboxing] happened when my [coach] Sir started an academy in Kashmir and I joined it. My brother and sister took me there and then, I started practicing. I participated in the state and national level competitions and won gold in both. Sir helped me a lot in my training…I practiced with all my heart and then I won gold. I used to watch kickboxing on TV…my siblings started encouraging me and took me to a stadium where I submitted the admission form for the academy. When I first went for the state level, I was very scared but my Sir encouraged me and motivated me. I was a bit worried when I went for the World Championship…but then I thought about Kashmir, about India, and how it was about everyone and not just me.”

  

• On 15 November 2016, Tajamul Islam, an eight-year-old at the time, created history by becoming the world’s youngest player to win the World Kickboxing Championship in Italy. With this achievement, Islam also became the first-ever Indian player from the Sub-Junior level in kickboxing to win a gold medal at an international event. The young Indian player represented her country among the 90 others who participated and won six bouts during the five-day-long championship. In her final match, Tajamul knocked down her rival from the US to grab the title of world champion. Following her historic win, she said in an interview, ^[5]The Milli Gazette
  

  I am happy that I won and I am proud of it. I want to appeal to all the Indian parents to support their children and encourage them and motivate them towards sports.”

• Since Tajamul hails from a poor Kashmiri family and her father couldn’t afford her fee for the international championship and for her kickboxing kit, the Indian Army pitched in and facilitated the kickboxer’s all state, national, and international matches. ^[6]The Economic Times

• The young kickboxer, at the age of 11, successfully founded her own sports academy in 2019 – the Haider Sports Academy, in Bandipora district. Tajamul runs the academy to train other young Kashmiri girls to compete in kickboxing and has nearly 720 people enrolled in the academy. ^[7]The Logical Indian

• In October 2021, Islam again won accolades by bagging a gold medal in the under-14 category of the World Kickboxing Championship held in Cairo, Egypt. She became the champion by defeating her opponent from Argentina in the finals. The kickboxer took to Twitter to express her joy on her second major international win and wrote,
  

  It was really a proud moment for me when I get gold again in the world kickboxing championship in Cairo, Egypt 2021, now I am 2 times world kickboxing champion.”

• Following the victory, Jammu & Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, too, took to Twitter to shower praise on the young kickboxer.

  

• Besides kickboxing, Islam also holds expertise in other martial arts like wushu and taekwondo. ^[8]The Logical Indian She was declared the best fighter of the year in her state at a state-level Wushu championship, held in Jammu. ^[9]Scroll.in

• Tajamul expressed in an Instagram video, posted ahead of her Egypt campaign, that she desired to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. The young champion also revealed that her next goal was to win gold in the under-18 category in the upcoming Olympics. ^[10]Ground Report ^[11]The Milli Gazette She said in an interview,
  

  I will continue to play at national and international levels upto 18 years and thereafter will go to Olympics and will hopefully win there as well.”

• The kickboxing champion dreams of becoming a doctor in the Indian Army. ^[12]The Economic Times When asked about her choice of career, she said,
  

  It will have its own benefits. I will first break bones of my opponents and then treat them.”