Ishrat Akhtar

Ishrat Akther from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir is a multi-faceted personality. She is an international wheelchair basketball player, a motivational speaker, Kashmir’s young leader and an achiever’s award-winner. Indeed, six years back, Ishrat’s life had no meaning — but an incident changed it all.

Ishrat was born in a village where women did not participate in sports. Like any other girl, she believed whatever her family taught her and did not dare to dream big. However, her life changed on August 24, 2016, when she fell from the balcony of her house. The injury was serious, it damaged her spinal cord – making her physically challenged.

Life changed for the good when the 25-year-old girl from the Authoora area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district started her basketball career in 2018. For her, playing basketball was not just a love for the sport but a passion for standing against all odds, come what may.

“I never played any sport before 2016, not even in school, but in 2016 when I was just 18 years old, I met with an accident. I fell off from the balcony of my house and this made me bedridden for two long years,” recalls Ishrat.