Tag Archives: Pathan Jameel Khan-Karate Champion

Eye on Olympics, martial arts champ seeks sponsor

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Jameel Khan Patan clinched gold, bronze in world championship

For over two decades, Jameel Khan Patan has been waging a grim battle against all odds even while quietly collecting medals on the international stage; 18 gold, 12 silver and 18 bronze, to be precise. That’s not all. The martial arts champion also has to his credit four gold, two silver and six bronze medals in World Cups since 2016.

Yet, this spirited Hyderabadi continues to run from pillar to post in search of financial support to sustain his passion. “With the specific goal of making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in which karate is being introduced, I am still pursuing my love for martial arts,” he says.

For someone who earns a modest salary by training some schoolchildren in and around Toli Chowki, all that he looks for is some kind of support that would help him realise his goal of making it to the Olympics. “Compared to the support I got in the US with special exemptions to train and compete, the response back in my hometown has been disappointing,” says Jameel.

“Well, I am not from a high-profile sporting discipline but a medal in any World Cup is not presented on a platter. You have to put in a lot of effort. I fail to understand what more I must achieve to get sponsorship,” the 43-year-old asks.

Despite his latest gold win in the adult breaking division, bronze in black belt forms and black belt weapons division in the World Cup final last month in Virginia, he is “struggling to overcome the fact that he remains an unknown personality in the world of sports when so many incentives are being showered on others”. “All I can hope is for some positive response even as I try my best to make it to Tokyo.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – February 26th, 2019

An acclaimed sportsman, yet struggles to make ends meet

Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

PathanJameelKhanMPOs28feb2018

Martial arts exponent Pathan Jameel Khan represents the other side of Indian sport?

Well, yes, if his ordeal in getting even a decent job or sponsorship to take part in international sporting events is any hint. For this 40-year-old Jameel, winner of 15 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze at the national and international events including two 2016 World Cup silver in the US is now struggling to meet both ends for want of financial support.

At a time, when cash incentives are being showered on truly deserving outstanding achievers, Jameel gently asks what is that he should do more to get the attention of the powers-that-be.

A native of Mandamarri village in Adilabad district, Jameel, whose father is a vegetable vendor, moved over to Hyderabad to pursue his passion in karate. His diligence and consistency at the highest level have won acclaim including an offer from a martial arts organisation to settle down in US with a chance to represent US. But for the love of the country, he spurned that and came back to India with hope of getting some help. But, as things stand, Jameel, a BA from Dr.Ambedkar Open University, is still staring at an uncertain future – even shunted out from one rented accommodation to the other for not being able to raise even the rental by the first week of the month. His lone source of income – training about 20 karate kids in Mehdipatnam – is always doubtful as it depends on the payment of fee by the students. Still, he has the grace to train about 500 girls of a Government-aided school free of cost to make them good in self-defence daily even now.

It may be recalled here that Telangana Government has been pretty generous in showering cash incentives on some of the deserving athletes in the recent past, running into lakhs but the fact that there are some big achievers like Jameel who are out of its radar is a sorry story of the powers-that-be not getting the right info. “May be, I am paying a price of not having the right connection or Godfathers to take up my cause,” moans a dejected Jameel even as he pursues the dream of representing India at this age in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics where karate is being introduced for the first time.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – September 29th, 2016

Making a statement, the karate way

Hyderabad, TELANGANA

Proud moment: Pathan Jameel Khan winning gold in Virginia on Sunday is the second world championship gold this month, after he moved to the US.
Proud moment: Pathan Jameel Khan winning gold in Virginia on Sunday is the second world championship gold this month, after he moved to the US.

Pathan Jameel Khan wins gold in the black belt division of World Championship in Virginia

This Hyderabadi has done it again! The 41-year-old Pathan Jameel Khan, the martial arts exponent, who moved to the US to take up karate training in an American school in New York a few months ago, made an emphatic statement again on Sunday winning the gold in the black belt division of the World Championship in Virginia.

This is incidentally the second world championship gold that Jameel has won, after moving to the US, this month.

Ironically, Jameel, winner of 15 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze at the national and international events, including two 2016 World Cup silver in the US, has to look for greener pastures after his repeated pleas for financial assistance and a job did not evoke any positive response from the authorities concerned.

“It’s a pity that I had to move to the US to take up this training job which fetches me enough money to take care of my family of ageing mother, four brothers and a sister,” says Jameel, even while being subdued despite winning two world championship gold (conducted by two separate world federations).

But why? “My ultimate dream is to represent India in the 2020 Olympics when karate will be introduced. Since I realised that even winning at the highest level will not assure me the kind of exposure I need for the Olympics, I had no option but to move to the US,” counters Jameel.

This BA graduate from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, whose only livelihood when in Hyderabad was by training a handful of enthusiastic young talent, points out that the three-year contract with the American school should also ensure adequate exposure to the toughest competitors in the field. “Besides training, the stay in the US should also help in picking up a few new tricks too,” says Jameel, who also won two bronze in the men’s forms and weapons categories.

Will you come back after the contract period? “As things stand now, my contract will end in 2019, one year before the Olympics. By God’s grace if everything falls in place and I get the help from the Telangana government, I will train and put in the best efforts to realise my ultimate dream of playing in Olympics the next year,” Jameel concludes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – February 06th, 2017