Son of tailor bags first gold for J&K in Khelo India Youth Games

CHENNAI: Adil Altaf, the son of a financially constrained tailor in Srinagar, won the first gold medal in 70km cycle road race for Jammu & Kashmir in the Khelo India Youth Games 2022 in Panchkula, in which Top 30 riders from every state took part. Adil, as a child, who struggled even to walk, winning gold in cycling has left his family and friends proud.

He, as a kid, used to help his father in picking and dropping things for his tailor shop in his cycle. His interest in cycling was brooded in 2018, when he won bronze in the 10 km cycle road race conducted in his school. That was the turning point to his life when he decided to take up the sport seriously.

This victory to Altaf has not been a bed of roses. Like many sportspersons in our country, he had also undergone struggles with coping up with the adequate nutrition and the essential equipment, the sport demands. In later times, as he excelled in various district and State level events, the State Bank of India of Srinagar sponsored him with MTB bike costing Rs 4.5 lakh.

It is commendable that earlier, he had won medals in district and state level competitions with a second-hand cycle that he bought from his neighbourhood with all the savings of his father. Later, father of his close friend gifted him with a cycle worth Rs 25,000 and a pair of shoes as an expression of his support.

Adil has been taken training in National Institute of Sports, Patiala since he was selected in January, for the Khelo India Youth Games 2022. Adil Altaf, in his interview to Brut, said, “I have a dream. I want India to be written on my jersey and I want to represent India in Olympics and Commonwealth Games”.