Alpine skier Arif Khan is the first from Kashmir and the only Indian this year to qualify for the 2022 Winter Olympics being held in the Chinese capital.
Arif Khan, India’s alpine skier from Kashmir, had big plans for this year. He was due to get married in September, but as international borders opened up he set his sights on something else. “He decided to postpone his wedding and soon left for Austria to train and focus on qualifying for the Winter Olympics,” his father Yasin Khan said.
Arif Khan made it look easy as he slalomed downhill on the artificial slopes of Ski Dubai recently.
That was the moment he became the first, and so far only, Indian athlete to qualify for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, which begins in February.
India has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics, and has never sent more than four athletes to a single edition of the Games. The Indian government dropped winter sports from the priority list in 1998 and it has not been reinstated yet. Ski and Snowboard India was only recognized by the International Ski Federation (FIS) in 2020.
But Khan is no stranger to the hard life in the mountains. His father Yaseen Khan, who was a skier and has been a ski guide since 1980, introduced a young Arif to skiing. The boy quickly took to the sport and started doing well in junior national competitions by the age of 12.
Skiing is still a developing sport in the region, even though it’s located in the lap of the Himalayas and has access to glorious natural slopes. With very little support, financial or in terms of infrastructure, the Khan family had to rely on tourism and their ski equipment shop in Gulmarg to keep his dream on track.
“It was actually 2005 when I started winning at the national events. By 2008 I was skiing faster than other Indian athletes and that’s when I decided I could think of going for the Olympics,” said Khan.
Arif wanted to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang but fell short of the desired amount of Rs1.5 lakh for training and equipment expenses even after crowdfunding.
Currently, sports management agency JSW Sports provides him with 40 percent financial assistance with the Jammu and Kashmir government also backing him. He, with the help of his family, reportedly covers 50 percent of the expenses. In the past, he worked as a skiing instructor to meet his expenses. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha earlier sanctioned Rs10 lakh to help Arif undergo advanced training.
“To be honest, if you want to be a medal contender, you require at least 10 years of training and preparation, (need) to have (decent) budget and funding, only then it’s possible to be in medal contention,” Arif said at a virtual interaction, organized by the Sports Authority of India, on 30 January.
“I have been training over a couple of years seriously and my expectation is to be make in world’s top 30. To be in top 30 is like medal winners in the world,” he added. He also stressed on the importance of mental preparation ahead of the quadrennial event, attributing 70 percent mental preparation to performing well in his field.
“It feels so great, I am going to represent 1.4 billion people, it is an achievement like being an athlete as well as being a citizen of India, it is super exciting. My dream has been to inspire people, especially back in Jammu and Kashmir. I always wanted to be someone that can really draw a line for the generation to follow and I see myself doing something closer,” he said.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games officially opens on 4 February 2022, though competition will start two days prior to the Opening Ceremony with preliminary games in curling and ice hockey. The Games will come to an end at the Closing Ceremony, scheduled for 20 February 2022. Indian athlete Arif Khan’s events are slated for 13 and 16 February and he is stoked about representing a nation of 1.4 billion people.