Kashmir's Bilquis Mir to judge water sports in Olympic's qualifying rounds

Jammu and Kashmir’s kayaking and canoeing coach and international player Bilquis Mir has been appointed as a judge in the qualifying rounds of kayaking and canoeing Asian qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The qualifiers are being held in Thailand's Pattaya in March.

Bilquis said, "I've been selected as a judge by the Asian Confederation office in Japan for a major tournament which is going to take place in Pattaya. I'm the first Indian woman to judge such a tournament."

"It's a happy moment not just for me but for my state and my country that I've got such a big platform, Olympic is a dream for every player and I'm one step away from it", she added.

"My dream is to put Indian water sports players on the world map. I'm proud that I've got one more chance to not just represent Jammu & Kashmir but the whole country," Bilquis stated.

"Bilquis wouldn't have been there if this beautiful lake did not exist (referring to Dal lake). I stepped into this sport in 1998 and it didn't garner much attention at that time, but now the government is giving it full attention and the Prime Minister has given this sports Rs 7 crore package," she added.

She has participated in many national and international tournaments and has won 6 gold medals along with 16 other medals.

Bilquis' dream is to find out talent in not just J&K but in other parts of the country where water sports are played and to train them to reach the international level.

Bilquis also trains hundreds of boys and girls in the world-famous Dal Lake. "Our players are extremely talented and in my last 4-5 years of training them, the Jammu & Kashmir team has won 82 medals at the national level and it's not too far when we will provide players of Asian and Olympics level.

It's not the first instance where the 33-year-old Bilquis has made India proud. Earlier in the 2018 Asian Games, she was the only Indian among the 20 picked up by the Asian Canoe Federation as a judge.