`Olympics is my goal’: Meet Danish Manzoor, Kashmir’s Taekwondo player who has been named `Fit India Movement’ ambassador

Srinagar: When Danish Manzoor from Gulshanabad, Baramulla, was just five-year-old, he would spend hours watching Chinese action movies. 

Such was his love for Bruce lee and Jackie Chain that he would try their action sequences at home.  However, little did he know that this interest in martial art would make him the face of India’s fitness campaign. 

Come 2022, Danish, 25, has become the first Taekwondo player to become an ambassador for India’s Fit India Movement.  He has also become only the second athlete from Jammu and Kashmir to achieve this feat. Earlier Wushu Coach Kuldeep Handoo was appointed as the ambassador for the Fit India Movement in 2020.

 “I have been appointed as an ambassador for Fit India Movement. I hope to motivate people to live a fit and healthy life. It is a big responsibility for an athlete like me to become the face of this movement,” he told The Kashmir Monitor.

Mere India’s fitness model is not just his sole aim. He is now sweating it out for Olympics 2024, which is scheduled to be held in Paris.

 “Olympics is my only goal and I am preparing hard for it. To achieve this feat I need to have a rank below 20. In the next two years, I am planning to improve my game. Atul Pangotra is currently coaching me for the Olympics. He is known for producing top-level players,” Danish said.

 Danish has already made his national debut in the 2nd India Open International Olympic Ranking Taekwondo Championship.

 Danish was recommended by J&K Taekwondo Association as a potential player to participate in the first ever Olympic level camp under the guidance of the world’s top coach Paul Green from Great Britain.

 Danish started playing Taekwando in 2011. He was coached by ace players including Ashfaq Wani. In 2013, he qualified for junior nationals in Pondicherry.

 Danish has won many medals at the national and international levels. In 2016, he won two silver medals at Tokey Memorial National Taekwondo Championship and Mahaveer National Taekwondo Championship.

 He competed for the Indian Taekwondo Team in the Men’s 58 weight division at the Israel Open G2 Olympic ranking Taekwondo event in Ramla. Players from around 30 different nations competed in the tournament. It was an official International Olympic ranking G2 Championship organized by the Israel Taekwondo Federation.