Naqati Aroob iqbal
Meet First and only female coach and captain of J&K Women’s Rugby Team “Soliha Yousuf” A Girl hailing from Rangpora Ellahi bagh area of district Srinagar “M.Tech” holder and a national level rugby player who represents Kashmir 12 times on national level, 12 times on state level and 13 times on district level.
During an interview, she said she has started in 2008 and through her school she got selection for first national and in the first year of her carrier her team had got third place become shield winners on national lavel . In 2010 she got selected in Asian 5 nations championships which were held in Pune and after comming from there she was awarded as best Rugby player of the year in kashmir through j&k rugby Assiocation which were headed by Mohd iqbal (Coach) and irfan aziz botta (Gen sec) . She has tapped out months in camping and had become the team head.
This is not easy for me to balance both students as well as passion but because of my enthusiasm I am able to do that which helps me to help my students to focus on their goal as well as on my own dream which I started when I join Rugby as a player.
Soliha was leading JK Women’s team and got selected for national games in 2015 where in all over India just top 8teams participated , that took place in Kerala . In 2017 she played in gulmarg Snow nationals and won gold medal and in the same year she played in Bihar nationals where they secured 5th place.
I had seen hardships, problems and struggle in my life to achieve my goal but my passion didn’t let me stop. In the beginning of my carrier there was no plan in my mind that I will choose rugby as profession in my life, because I used to play in the beginning just for my own happiness and self motivation but after knowing about this rugby i fell in love with this game but after loving this games it comes in my mind that if you want to get position in the same game it needs proper training and hardwork which just can be done under the directions of coach’s, after get training from my association coach’s who always encourage and help me to give my best because they were aware about my calliber and right now if I achieve something in my life it’s all because the hard work of my mentors and the support of my family.
Soliha was also selected as Referee in international Rugby match which were held in Pune between Korea and Kazakistan on 2011 . In 2020 Khelo India Winter Games they have been bronze winners. She is the only female from Kashmir who has done level one referring and coaching course which is certified by world rugby.
In the end of the interview she said she have a dream to help her students to reach their destiny, and I worked hard for that and also in my short message I request to all the youth of our valley please stay away with wrong ❌ directions which can destroy the dream of your life and the dream of your parents, if you want to achieve your goal, want to get your dream don’t waste your precious time which you can use in a right way to make our nation more strong and make feel proud.(THE VOK) .
