Faisal Ali Dar

Fasil Ali Dar is the founder and chief coach of Ali’s Sports Academy, which teaches martial arts across Kashmir, and India’s national kickboxing coach. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2022 in the field of sports, from Jammu and Kashmir ^[1].

Learning from television

Fasil Ali was born on 2 December 1988, the son of a radio and television mechanic in Bandipora ^[2]. Helping his father install television sets and antennas, he watched a lot of sport and picked up martial arts such as kickboxing, taekwondo and wushu from television ^[2]. He graduated from the Government Degree College, Bandipora, in 2008 ^[2].

He started in wushu, then switched to kickboxing in 2008, and two years later won a medal at the Asian Kickboxing Championship ^[2]. That success led him to start coaching in Bandipora ^[2].

Clubs across the valley

His academy, named after his grandfather, has units in almost every district of Kashmir, charging a fee of 50 rupees a year ^[2]. About 3,600 players are registered in 17 clubs, and players from them have won medals at international championships ^[2]. He has also worked in drug de-addiction programmes, helping many young people give up drugs, and organised self-defence training for women, tree planting and blood donation drives ^[2].

Forbes Asia featured him in 2017, and he received a Dr B. R. Ambedkar national award for peace-building through sport in Kashmir ^[2].