Valley gets its 1st woman snow racer
■ 40- yr- old doctor breaks barriers, to take part in Gulmarg event
Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami, a doctor by profession, is all set to become Jammu and Kashmir’s first female snow racer. She would be participating in “Frozen Rush 2”, the only snow autocross in the country. “I want to come up as an inspiration to many other aspiring women of Kashmir who desire to make a difference and break the barriers,” she said.
The two- day event is scheduled to take place at Kashmir’s premier ski resort Gulmarg from January 20. Gulmarg, situated at a height of 2,650 metres above the sea level and about 54 km from Srinagar, has been chosen for several ski and other winter sports events to be held in January- March. These include the annual 3- day Gulmarh Winter Festival, tourism officials here said.
Dr Nizami is the very first female participant of Frozen Rush 2. “While it is still a male- dominated sport, this season, for the first time ever, the Kashmir motorsport scene will witness its very first Kashmiri female snow race driver as a participant in the second edition of Frozen Rush,” said Farah Zaidi, the PR director of “Kashmir Off Road ( KOR)”, which is organising the event.
Dr Nizami, 40, is a fulltime practising doctor and a mother of two. A resident of Srinagar, she works in the governmentrun Ghusia Hospital in the city’s Khanyar area. “Wow, I am finally going to race. It’s going to be a long cherished dream coming true; the feeling still needs to sink in,” she said.
She said that she has been driving for past over two decades and just getting behind the wheel gives her thrills.
“However, it is for the first time that I would be racing too. This is what I have been wanting to do,” she said.
◗ Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami is a full- time practising doctor and a mother of two. A resident of Srinagar, she works in a government- run hospital in the city’s Khanyar area.