Meet Nadia Nighat, the first Kashmiri woman football coach

It was not a bed of roses for Nadia Nighat to break through a stereotype and prove that a girl can excel in any field. She is now the first Kashmiri woman football coach. 

As India celebrates the 70th Republic Day at Rajpath, Republic TV honored the unsung heroes in a special broadcast titled 'Proud to be Indian' and speaking to us the football coach opened up about her journey and said 'My relatives, neighbors, and the society, none of them allowed me to have a career in football as I was a girl'. 

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Nighat was the only girl among 40-50 boys who had joined a training session at a local college. The 20-year-old had to face a lot of criticisms, but she rose to all occasions.'Everybody thought that because I was a girl, it was better for me to study and do house-work, but I was always drawn to football from an early age' she said. 

She is an ardent fan of fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, and so has named her club 'JJ7', that is inspired by Ronaldo's name and jersey number 'CR7.' On being asked about the message she wants to send across, she said ' I want others just like me, to take up their passion, and I want others to motivate girls to play sports'. 

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Further requesting teachers, she said 'Please motivate your students, including the girls to play sports and football, so that more women feel encouraged'

With the help of JKFA, Nadia also enrolled for two coaching courses to teach herself the basics of the game. She also regularly attends the Government Women's College in Srinagar where she conducts training sessions for girls. 

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You can catch the full story of Nadia Nighat in the special broadcast of 'Proud to be Indian' on Republic TV on Saturday