Srinagar, Nov 25: Irfan Ahmad Mir (20), a visually impaired youth from Dusso village of Pampore town, has become an inspiration for many. His blindness has not hindered him from excelling in life.
Holding the slogan “move on your own”, the youth, although visually impaired since birth, is excited and all geared up for the results of the cricket trials that he has recently appeared at Pune in Maharashtra.
From the 52 players, who had come for the trials, the selectors will choose the world cup squad, which will represent India in the One-Day International Blind Cricket World Cup to be held in Dubai in January next year.
Irfan is confident that he will be selected in the squad because his performance during the trials has been good.
“I am eagerly waiting for the results and I hope I will be selected in the World Cup squad,” Irfan said, adding that he has learnt a lot for the past three years as he has participated in most of the tournaments played in the country.
Irfan had never thought of making cricket his profession until he joined the National Institute for Visually Handicapped (NIVH), an institute for visually impaired in India. Irfan recently passed Class XII exam and is at present pursuing a computer course in a local computer institute.
He said that in 2014 he had gone to the NIVH, Dehradun, to pursue a three-month course on “adjustment of blindness’ where he started to play cricket and excelled in the game.
“I wanted to play for my state, so I contacted Blind Hostel in the Roopnagar area of Jammu and made a team with the help of my colleague Ajay Kumar Thakur, present captain of the Jammu and Kashmir team,” Irfan said. He said the Jammu and Kashmir team started playing national-level tournaments only this year. He, however, said the state government was not providing much help to blind cricketers.
“Jammu and Kashmir stood at number four in the first year of its entry into national blind cricket tournaments of North Zone,” Irfan said. He said: “We had approached the J&K State Sports Council for organising an inter-district tournament but it did not help.”
He said currently they had their own association under the banner of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association for Blind (JKCAB), which was affiliated to the Cricket Association for Blind in India.
Secretary, J&K State Sports Council, Waheed-ur-Rehma
n Para said nobody had approached him in this regard. “I am here to address their issues and the J&K State Sports Council will surely support them,” Parra said.
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