Towards greater heights: Varsity rewards ski champ with free education

South Asian Winter Games’ gold medalist Amina Wali studies engineering at KIU.


Shabbir Mir January 27, 2014
Amina and her sister Ifrah. PHOTO: FILE

GILGIT: Karakoram International University (KIU) has announced free education for Gilgit-Baltistan’s skiing champion Amina Wali, who is studying environment sciences at the varsity.

In 2011, Amina and her sister Ifrah won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the first South Asian Winter Games held in India, beating contestants from Sri Lanka, Nepal and India in the giant slalom. Ifrah studies at the National University of Sciences and Technology.

 photo In2011_zpsc35d07a5.jpg

This month, Amina again won a gold medal in one of the events during the four-day National Sadia Khan Memorial Ski Championship held at Naltar Valley, about 50 kilometres from Gilgit. The event was organised by the Pakistan Air Force.

“She (Amina) has been part of the KIU team and has been an inspiration for the rest of her colleagues,” KIU spokesperson Shahid Shigri said. “In recognition of her achievements, the vice chancellor has waived her fee and awarded her with a cash prize of Rs10,000,” said the official.

Amina is also a member of the Higher Education Commission’s skiing team.

Plan International, an NGO, is also intending to give the talented sisters the status of goodwill ambassadors for their outstanding achievement in the field of skiing.

 photo ShahidShigri_zps07d8e6c7.jpg

Amina and Ifrah, the progeny of the Gushpur family – the former royal family in Ghizer district – excel in skiing as they spent most of their childhood near the snow-capped mountains of G-B. The duo was recently selected for the qualifying rounds of the Winter Olympics to be held in Russia this year.

Amina could not be reached for comments despite several attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28th, 2014.

COMMENTS (3)

vaqas | 10 years ago | Reply Congratulations champs!
N K | 10 years ago | Reply

Excellent! God bless these girls and give them more glory. The govt should help them in hiring professional coaches as well.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ