A Journey Of Champion – Karate to Swimming (Article on Shams Aalam by Sensai Umesh Murkar)

No one can tell how life will ever change its colour, but if the mind is strong and courageous, it can overcome anything, Shams Aalam is a live example admits all of us. In my previous articles, I have mentioned about the benefits of karate, children getting stronger and more courageous. To throw some light on Shams life, When he came to me to learn, all I could think was that an ordinary boy from Bihar was learning karate because of his hobbies. As the days went by, I began to realize from his actions and practice that there was something different about this student. Then I began to pay special attention to him.

His passion for learning was inspiring me to teach more. Any of the given task would be done immediately and his overzealousness would sometimes haunt me. At that point of time I taught him how to be patient. Shams joined Karate in August 2002. Just two months later, the Karate Championship was invited to Thane for a sports week, at which point Shams expressed a strong desire to take part in the championship. So I told him to let go for a while and then fight, but he didn’t listen, he joined the fight and lost the fight. At that time, he wondered why his coach was talking like that. Then in 2003 he won a gold medal in the National Championship at Jambhori Maidan, Worli. Karate National held at Kalidas Sports Complex in 2005. He won a gold medal in his age group at the championships and at the Grand Championships, he also won a gold medal. The highlight of the event was that Shams, despite having a blue belt himself, won the gold medal by defeating all the black belt players who participated in the Grand Championship.

After winning the grand championship, all the children of our organization cheered. It was special that I picked him up myself out of the joy I felt at the time. In another memorable case, he won a gold medal at the National Karate Championships in Airoli in 2007 and at this match, I noticed that the last point, which was the winning point, was given to his opponent We strongly objected on that and showed the video recording. And that fight was taken back. Shams won and proved his skill and my confidence on him as his coach proved to be right. The players who perform well, the spectators automatically gather to watch the fight, and Shams was one of them. And from that, one can learn how to be a good fighter like him. Shams completed the black belt by passing for karate. He also earned name as a good fighter of our SSKKA. When we won the gold medal in the Karate Inter College University competition, we were all very happy.

Sometimes there were ideological differences between me and him. However, we have never been separated mentally. It often happens that players who play well in class and in other outdoor fights are seen to be selfish, coaches trying to get along with them. Most of the time it happened with me, in this case, I had my clear opinion that such coaches themselves should train the children from the very beginning and make them fighters. Only then he is a true coach. I would like to mention this in particular. While Shams was emerging as a very good fighter, he won many state and national competition medals. But God had written something different for him, a tumor in the back that made Shams’s lower body paralyzed.

It was a difficult time in Shams’s life, during the middle of these two years while he was undergoing treatment at Sion Hospital, my wife Lakshmi and I used to visit him at least once a week to give him mental support. Meanwhile in 2012 we took him to our karate camp, in which all the children became emotional in his speech, after which Shams registered Paralympics Swimming association Mumbai for Disabled Swimmers, in which I also did my part as president. Shams became the secretary of the organization.

Shams’s confidence as a fighter and the fighting spirit within him which he achieved while practicing karate came in use in his difficult time to overcome this major trauma of his life. He then Won many medals in international swimming, 50m Butterfly S5 National Record Holders, 100, 200, Freestyle Record Holders, 200 Individual Medley Record Holders. Indian Open Para Swimming Championships 4 Gold Medals Bangalore Speedo CanAm Swimming Championship Canada Bronze Medal Paralympic Swimmers Record of Longest Open Swimming 2 Limca Book Asian Para Games Indonesia Jakarta 2018 National Championships 10 times TEDX speaker, Josh Talk, motivational speaker of various universities. Bihar Khel Ratna Award 2018. Bihar government’s sports honor. Best Emerging Leader in Disability and Sports Diplomacy by US Department of Education and Cultural Affairs 2018. He has also become a motivational speaker of international renown bodies. This is a matter of pride for our organization and our SSKKA family feels lucky to have him in our family.

Written By – Sensai Umesh Murkar

Editied By – Shams Aalam