Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – Arif Khan had simply discovered how one can stroll when he had his first expertise of snowboarding over the snowy slopes of Gulmarg, a picturesque meadow resort in northern Indian-administered Kashmir.
He was 4 and his father, Muhammad Yaseen, was his first tutor.
Not like cricket and hockey, winter sports activities occasions should not standard in India. Nonetheless, Kashmir is among the many few northern states the place winter sports activities actions happen.
With little infrastructure or skilled assist, Khan saved snowboarding each winter on the snowy slopes positioned 40km (25 miles) from his residence, the place Yaseen had been working a snowboarding tools store for 40 years.
Khan would make the tiring stroll up the slopes together with the tools, and would race downhill.
The journey up the slops was eased in 1998 when cable automobile providers had been began. However even then, there was no tools to smoothen the snow and Khan would work on the slopes manually for hours. It turned a snowboarding journey from scratch, reaching its peak when he turned India’s sole consultant on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Khan completed forty fifth within the Large Slalom and was unable to finish the Slalom occasion, getting disqualified from the competitors after a mistake on the best way.
He stated his journey to turning into knowledgeable had been an uphill job on account of an absence of funding, superior infrastructure, skilled teaching, and a deteriorating political state of affairs within the area, which has seen frequent turmoil within the final 20 years.
However regardless of all of the obstacles, qualifying for the Winter Olympics was an achievement, the skier from a non-descript village of Hajibal had earned a spot within the area’s sports activities historical past.
“I began snowboarding in 1994 in Gulmarg the place my father launched me to the game as he has been a tour information for many years and ran a ski tools store,” Khan advised Al Jazeera.
He added that he continued coaching at residence till 2003 when he made a debut within the skilled championship at India’s junior stage after which represented India, saying that he has represented India in additional than 100 worldwide occasions.
“Through the nationwide championships, I used to be largely profitable the race,” stated Khan, earlier than including that his worldwide journey began in 2005 when he represented India on the inaugural Asian Youngsters’s Nationwide Championship in China.
Seeing his progress and the laurels he introduced, his father turned extra centered on coaching.
“I used to be made to work arduous and develop extra abilities,” he stated.
In 2008, when Khan was lastly in a position to practice in Switzerland, he was amazed on the stage of infrastructure, slopes and training.
“What was comparable was the mountains and snow, it was the identical as Kashmir. After coaching for 2 to 3 weeks, I made a decision to get educated there professionally as I didn’t have any worldwide coaching earlier than, and I set my eyes on the Olympics,” Khan stated.
In 2011, Khan was extra pushed to the game and received two gold medals on the South Asian Winter Video games.
However his journey to the Olympics was not going to be a straightforward one.
“If I wished to coach overseas, there have been monetary issues. We didn’t have a lot tourism [in Kashmir] throughout these days, we couldn’t earn a lot to coach me professionally in Europe,” he recalled.
“Through the years, I made increasingly more connections with folks and a few folks from Delhi offered me some monetary help. It wasn’t a full-scale help although.”
One of many main obstacles to attaining his desires was the political turmoil within the area.
Within the final 10 years, the area witnessed a number of civilian uprisings and was locked down for months, bringing life to a crippling halt. It additionally triggered important losses to the tourism sector which is a livelihood for hundreds of individuals within the area, together with Khan’s father.
In 2016, when insurgent commander Burhan Wani was killed by Indian safety forces, it triggered months of protests and as life got here to a halt, the Khan household’s solely supply of revenue took a success too.
“Within the final decade, now we have misplaced a lot of tourism which is the one supply of revenue for us. These days had been very troublesome. The psychological stress was immense There have been demonstrations and other people would hardly consider being knowledgeable athlete.”
The tourism sector in Kashmir has been going by the worst disaster in recent times with many individuals shedding their jobs and tour brokers in search of alternate alternatives to earn a livelihood as a result of unstable political state of affairs.
The area was but to recuperate from the earlier setbacks when the coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020.
It is just this 12 months, after the third wave of the pandemic began to say no, that home tourism has began selecting up.
“In these years, it appeared no one had targets. Everybody had given up and we couldn’t stick with it,” stated Khan, shortly including that he additionally had a realisation that “if I surrender, there wouldn’t be one other likelihood”.
“I aimed to be on the Olympics. That was a dream. I wished to characterize India there. I wished to point out we additionally belong to winter sports activities, now we have the mountains, now we have the snow, and now we have the sweetness. I wished to introduce Kashmir to the remainder of the world.”
Yaseen recalled the household’s struggles whereas being elated at his son’s progress.
“After I introduced him right here [Gulmarg], we didn’t have a lot revenue. There have been few amenities. He struggled, however we remained constant in making him study. Greater than me, my associates are comfortable over his achievements,” Yaseen stated.
“He missed two earlier Olympics due to a number of causes. Now that he’s carried out that, you need to go for extra and carry out higher and win medals,” he added.
He had little hope of profitable a medal however Khan’s expectation in Beijing was to ski down properly and make it to the end line.
“The situation was so horrible that if you happen to tried arduous to complete quicker, there have been probabilities of not ending the race and it’s sort of one occasion that I attempted to complete quicker however on account of some mistake, I used to be out on the race.
“To win a medal, it’s good to put together for 10 years and have an enormous funds. In a rustic like India, the place winter sport shouldn’t be so standard, you possibly can hardly get any help and sponsorship or authorities funding.”
Khan now has his eyes set on the 2026 Olympics.
“There shall be extra probabilities of receiving help or time for coaching tools and journey. That is additionally one of the best time to advertise sport throughout the nation and in addition throughout the Kashmir Valley.
“Kashmir is all about mountains and snow. It’s our pure recreation,” he stated, hoping that the game will uplift the area’s battered economic system.