Ladakh-based Shanaz Parveen, backed by passion and her mother’s support, became a black belt in Taekwondo. She now empowers other girls in the region to fearlessly pursue sports.
“Girls don’t wear track pants and do taekwondo.”
“Girls don’t have a future in this sport.”
These were the words hurled at Shanaz Parveen when she first started training for Taekwondo. However, all these statements were mere white noise to young Shanaz, who remained focused on her passion.
Today, she is the first woman from Ladakh to win gold at a national-level Taekwondo meet! “I kick, I knock off my opponent with my hijab on!” she proudly says. It was a school taekwondo session that sparked Shanaz’s interest in the sport. There was no looking back for her since.
“I trained for 10 hours a day, and won several awards both national and…