SRINAGAR: Mohsin Ali, Sajad Hussain and Muhammad Hussain, all hailing from humble backgrounds around Dal Lake, have brought laurels for Jammu and Kashmir UT at the national stage in the Khelo India Water Sports Festival (KIWSF), 2025.
Mohsin won the gold in K-1 1000 metre men’s kayaking, Sajad silver in C-2 500 metre Canoe Slalom, and Hussain silver in C-2 Canoe 500 metres men and bronze in C-1 Canoe 1000 metres men. The three medals enabled hosts J&K finish seventh among 28 states and Union Territories that took part in the Games.
The families of all three water sports athletes struggle to make ends meet, yet they encouraged their children to participate in water sports events, and one of the reasons for this is their confidence in SAI. The SAI centre, set up at Nehru Park inside Dal Lake, is playing a major role in turning around the careers of these water sports athletes.
Mohsin, Sajad and Hussain have all been training at the SAI’s Nehru Park Centre and honing their skills under the guidance of SAI’s water sports coaches. Sajad said that the centre not only provides training to them but also all possible support.
“When we used to train at the Nehru Park Centre in the mornings, our SAI coach Zulfkar Ali Bhat would drop us at school after training as the school would start soon after the training at the centre. We used to put on our school uniform in his car after training at the centre,” he said.
Hailing from the Mir Bahri area in the interiors of the Dal Lake, Sajad said that being a Shikarawallah’s son, it was difficult to venture into endurance sports like canoeing, as it requires a proper diet, besides hard work and proper training.
Muhammad Hussain said that he had faced numerous hardships on the way to his success and was thankful to SAI, which had set up the SAI centre at Nehru Park, which was instrumental in his success.
“We aren’t well off financially, and if we were to train on our own, it would not be possible for us to excel,” he said. “It was the training that we got at SAI Jammu centre at Nehru Park that made a difference.”
Hussain said that training at the centre and participating in sports also keeps youth away from the menace of drug addiction.
Mohsin Ali also echoed similar sentiments and said that without the SAI’s support, he could not have won the gold, as his family too was living from hand to mouth, and he himself would ride a Shikara to assist with the family’s income.
Their Canoeing and Kayaking coach at SAI’s Nehru Park centre, Zulfkar Ali Bhat, said that as India is bidding for the 2036 Olympics, the SAI Jammu centre at Nehru Park is working on long-term plans like having the talent and resource pool ready for the event.
