Life's tough for a non-elite Indian athlete at the best of times. And for a practitioner of martial art Taekwondo — not much of a brand in India — it's even tougher. Danish Manzoor, a Taekwondo athlete from Kashmir, knows that well. But while squabbling officials "at the top" seem hellbent on ruining his (and his fellow Taekwondo mates') career, social media platform Koo did him a favour.

CNBCTV18.com caught up with Danish to know more about his life, how India is faring in Taekwondo, his experiences and how Koo fuelled his sporting ambitions when almost every other door closed for him.

Danish has won several medals and his success was recognised by the government, which selected him as an ambassador for the Indian government programme the FIT India Mission. Danish dreams of representing India at the Olympics.

Below are excerpts from the interview.

Q. What are doing currently?

Danish: Currently, I am pursuing Taekwondo. I am preparing for the championships. These championships are ranking events.

Q. How did you get into Taekwondo?

Danish: It was in 2011 when I first chanced upon Taekwondo training in my region. I was busy playing cricket with my friends, when the ball went in the direction of where a Taekwondo class was in progress. I joined these classes the very next day.

In fact, I was always very fond of the Chinese movies. I used to watch Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan films.

Q. Tell us about your journey in Taekwondo.

Danish: For starters, I thought I was doing only martial arts. I did not know there are so many different disciplines in martial arts.

After only three months of training, I got a call from the Sports and Youth Services Department. They asked me if I was interested in participating in the inter-district Taekwondo championship. My coach encouraged me to participate. I ended up winning my first-ever bronze medal at the inter-district championship. That's how my Taekwondo journey started.

Q. Why Taekwondo?

Danish: For individual sports, the Olympics is the biggest event. And only two martial art forms are recognised by the Olympics. One is Judo and another one is Taekwondo. Karate was only included in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as a demonstration sport. Wushu is not an Olympic sport but is only limited to the Asian Games. India won a medal recently in Judo at the Commonwealth Games.

Taekwondo has a huge fan following across the world. Over 75 million people practise Taekwondo worldwide in some form or the other, out of whom 22 million are Black Belt winners. These 22 million people are recognised by Kukkiwon, which is also known as the headquarters of Taekwondo.

At the beginning, I took part in both Wushu and Taekwondo events. But I found that Taekwondo drew the highest number of participants. I feel Taekwondo is attractive. It is speedy. Speed decides a winner in Taekwondo. The biggest positive with Taekwondo is that it is an Olympic sport. So if you dream of being an Olympian, Taekwondo is a good option.

Q. Do you have your personal coach?

Danish: My first coach was Sajid Ashraf Bhatt. When I made my Team India debut I started training under Atul Pangotra, who is also the Indian team's coach. I'm still training with him.

Q. How is India performing in Taekwondo?

Danish: Frankly speaking, the Taekwondo scenario here is bad. There is a running dispute over the accreditation of national sports body of Taekwondo. The dispute has been on since 2019.

Despite being an Olympic sport, Taekwondo was excluded from the 36th National Games. It was heart-wrenching for us. We qualified for the National Games but could not play because of the disputes at the top.

The dispute is ongoing, ruining careers of Taekwondo athletes in India.

I am participating in the Taekwondo ranking events, which are important for Olympics qualification in an individual capacity. I have a global athlete licence sanctioned by World Taekwondo. I could participate in the ranking events thanks to that licence.

We all are suffering because of the dispute. The Services team is suffering, as are the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and state teams.

The Asian Games are coming up in 2023. There will be Asian Olympic quota at the Games. So we only have one year to get ready.

Q. Any other talented Taekwondo players in India you know of?

Danish: There are many. There is Aman Kadyan. Among women, there are Kashish Malik, Latika Bhandari and Anisha Aswal — all within 100 rankings.

Q. How did you feel being adjudged the ‘Best Male Athlete’ at the 2021 Tokey Memorial Open Taekwondo Championship.

Danish: I had worked hard for the tournament and then when I got the ‘Best Male Athlete’ award, I felt really happy.

Q. How did you use social media platform Koo to raise funds?

Danish: In 2021, I first got to know about Koo. There are so many international athletes with profiles on Koo, and would post frequently. I too installed the Koo app on my phone. What sets Koo apart is its MLK or multi-lingual feature.

So when I was desperate for sponsorship to get funds for the participation in tournaments I posted on Koo to seek help. That post was shared a lot and I received some positive feedback.

After two to three days, a J&K-based foundation called Help Foundation stepped in. They contacted me and sponsored me for the competition. I was able to participate in the competition because of Koo.

Q. What can be done to improve Taekwondo scenario in India?

Danish: The government has a very vital role to play in streamlining any sport in the country. And the progress of Taekwondo has stalled because of negligence by the government.

But things are changing after Neeraj Chopra's medal at the Tokyo Olympics. I feel people are now more curious to know about Olympic sports rather than just cricket. We need funds and investors.

We know that JSW has started investing in sports, and these athletes are now doing well. It will be great if one centre of excellence can adopt Taekwondo athletes.

When I got injured, I had no proper support for my rehabilitation. So If Taekwondo gets just little bit attention from the government and private investors, I believe that someone from India can definitely qualify for the Olympics — if not for 2024 Olympics then definitely for the 2028 Olympics.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Oct 21, 2022 7:03 AM IST