Bandipora, Jan 07: Astounded by his sports aptitude, a self-taught calis-athlete from North Kashmir’s Bandipora district has been taking everyone by storm with his harness-free and gravity-defying stunts.
Hailing from Athwatoo, a remote hamlet in the Bandipora district, Imran began his calisthenics routine, a type of strength training focused mainly on bodyweight exercises, two years ago.
In a chat with Rising Kashmir, Imran said that he initially participated in martial arts before realising it was a common game in Kashmir, leading him to seek something different – ultimately settling for calisthenics.
Imran said that his life was already full of challenges which is why he had to relocate to Srinagar for work, where he had no opportunity to keep pursuing his passion due to his hectic timetable.
“I quit my job after I realised I was getting further away from my passion and dedicated myself to doing calisthenics in a park where many children would watch me and began demonstrating interest in learning it”, he said.
Imran stated that since he had come Srinagar to make money but his heart did not want him to stay away from his passion game. “I used to find money from somewhere and send it to my family while keeping my passion too”, he said.
Imran revealed he had been coaching children for no remuneration for two months at the park in Dalgate and now has a team of forty athletes. “At first, they did not even know how to pronounce the calisthenics word, however, they were dedicated to learning which persuaded me to set up an academy,” he stated.
He went on to explain it was the Army that gave him the courage to open the academy as he had initially contemplated on surrendering the idea of teaching students.
He and his crew have taken part in many festivals and cultural events, he said, adding that they are in contact with the National Calisthenics Association to show their skill on a national level soon.
Imran declared that his academy is Kashmir’s first academy of calisthenics which will join hands with the Indian National calisthenics team “India Strength wars” this year to further this activity more in Jammu and Kashmir.
He mentioned that a portion of these activities are incredibly hard and have taken him a great deal of time to accomplish and hold for even three seconds. “I don’t assume there are any restrictions to my athletic capacity, however, since I push myself to progress constantly”, he stated.
On being asked whether he supposes that calisthenics will ascend to the front line of wellness and physical culture here in Kashmir, he said that positively It will come as it is testing and fun, also one can generally do it anyplace he wants. “It’s all about being imaginative with your developments”, he concluded.
