We have gone through a number of athletes of the nation who are wining the hearts of public by showing talent in one field or the other. But here, I want to take your attention towards an athlete from Kashmir who has a dream to touch the sky but this dream breaks from time to time since he started his journey of cycling being an inhabitant of conflict hit zone. Adil Ahmad Teli, 23 years old, a resident of Narbal area of Budgam, Kashmir started his schooling in his area and completed his Higher Secondary level education in his locality. After 12th, he got admission in Gandhi Memorial College Srinagar whereby he recently completed graduation. This college has been remained a major supporter for uplifting his talent of cycling since beginning because this college got win continuously for 3 years in inter college cycling events due to is extra efforts. Today Adil is enrolled in GNDU College Amritsar for Bachelors of Physical Education & Sports to explore his cycling world.
Adil started his journey of cycling in 2013 when he represented J&K in cycling event at national level first time and is representing every year till date. He has also represented Kashmir University for three years in All India University Cycling Championships. Adil gave surprise to the nation last year when he put a record in the field of cycling non stop from Srinagar to Leh crossed a distance of 440 km in just 26 hours and 30 minutes and broke a record set by three groups in 2014, 2015 and 2018. He had set a dream to break the record and he did due to his immense hard work, patience & dedication. After he made this record, he was nominated for Youth Icon Award. Adil is regularly working hard to fill his dream of becoming an icon at national as well as at international level but his dream breaks every time due to one reason or the another.
All the dreams of Adil to become n icon are stuck. His dreams started to break last year when he was nominated for an event at national level in the month of August 2019, but couldn’t joined because of the turmoil followed by the scrapping articles 370 & 35 A in J&K on 5th August even all the cellular as well as internet networks were suspended. Postpaid networks were restored in some parts of the JK after 70 days while as high speed 4G internet is still under suspension and completed a year. Consequently he lost the contact of selectors and still they are untraceable. After scrapping these articles whole J&K was under shutdown for 4 months and the work and transport resumed to work after 4 months in December which is not a suitable time for cycling in Kashmir due to harsh winters. The season for Adil to explore his cycling was likely to start in mid March this year but again his dream broke down when the entire world was attacked by corona virus and the lockdown guidelines were issued by administration everywhere which is still in place and we are now living in a world of pandemic where no events, no sports, no gatherings is a norm. These athletes needs to be a part of violence free state to live and explore their talent so that they could participate in every event. If these unfortunate situations of J&K does not changes in future, Adil will lost his talent which can lead for his mental disturbances. Adil these days have got an opportunity to take part in several national level events and also for sponsorship but he is is sure that he could miss these opportunities again because he lives in a conflict zone!
