Meet Bilquis Maqbool International Pencak Silat player, 5 times national gold medalist from J-K's Budgam

Bilquis Maqbool of Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district won five gold medals at a national competition in the International Pencak Silat (a form of martial art) championships making her district proud.

Bilquis Maqbool of Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district won five gold medals at a national competition in the International Pencak Silat (a form of martial art) championships making her district proud. In the year 2018, Maqbool qualified for World Junior Championship in Thailand. However, she lost in the semi-finals.

She now aims to clear the trials for Asian games, 2022 and be a part of the national team. Maqbool had no facilities to practice in Budgam, hence she travelled to Srinagar Indoor stadium daily for practice.

She started from the local level to state and then played nationals in different states in the country. After getting success in the different national level competitions, she was selected for the international level and played the international championship in Thailand.

After Maqbool proved her mettle in several championships, the sports council set up a training academy for Pencak Silat game. Speaking to ANI, "Maqbool said, "My education was at a public school. In that school, I was introduced to this game by my physical education teacher. I was selected at the national level. I really like martial arts and it was quite good for my self-defence as well. I was selected for the international level however, I lost in the semi-final at the tournament in Thailand,".

"But I continued after that. I won gold medals at Haryana, Assam and Maharashtra. I am really motivated after winning the medals, I want to move ahead in this game. This year we are going to Haryana for Asian games trial. My family is supportive of me," she added. "I am going to play for the trials for national at Harayan, after that Inshallah, I would like to give trials for international levels," she added.

"I think Maqbool is an outstanding player at the Pencak Silat game. She used to come from a far-flung area for training in the game. Slowly and steadily she reached from district to state to national levels. After that she reached international level. In 2018, she qualified for the world junior championship. However, she lost her bout in the semi-finals of the championship. I hope she qualifies for Asian games or commonwealth games and be a part of the national team," Mohammad Iqbal, Maqbool's coach said. Many girls have taken inspiration from Maqbool and are coming forward in the game of Pencak Silat game. (ANI)

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