M Ahmad
Umar Ashraf Baig hails from Sultanpora, Baramulla, had an accident, at the age of three, which left him deaf and dumb. A student of Abhedananda Home- Deaf and Dumb school solina, Rambagh, Srinagar, Umar started playing school level cricket in 2006.
His first major break came in 2008 when he was selected for J&K’s deaf and dumb cricket team to play in Delhi.
He played around 100 plus matches in the State level tournaments including Deaf IPL. He was selected in the Indian International Deaf Cricket team in the year-2014 and played first International match against Pakistan at Punjab in December-2014 (Dosti Cup). He then went on to play in World Deaf cricket in 2015 in which he got the chance to play against teams of England, South Africa, Pakistan in Dubai.
In 2016 Umar went to Dubai and played a match against Pakistan’s U-19 deaf and dumb team. and scored 59 runs.”In 2017, Umar was part of the team that won Asia Cup (2017) final against Sri Lanka.
Previous Governor NN Vohra has applauded his achievements. He has been felicitated by the Honb’le Justice of High Court, Jenab Ali Mohammad Magrey Sahib at SKICC, Srinagar for his outstanding performance in sports.
Umar was also honoured award for outstanding Sports Person on 2019 Republic Day
| Year 2019 Republic Day Awards | |
| Award for Outstanding Sports Person | 1. Mr. Chandeep Singh (Para-sports)
2. Ms. Farheen Favaz (Pencak Silat) 3. Mr. Nirmal Kumar (Mountaineering) 4. Ms. Balveen Kour (Gymnastics) 5. Mr. Rasik Salam (Cricket) 6. Mr. Danish Farooq (Football) 7. Mr. Saqlain Tariq (Volleyball) 8. Ms. Shreya Gupta (Fencing) 9. Mr. Bilal Ahmad Dar (Cycling) 10. Ms. Jasia Akhter (Cricket) 11. Mr. Ummar Ashraf (Deaf Cricket) 12. Mr. Hiteshwar Singh (Rollball) 13.Women’s Ice Hockey Team Leh |
Such Specially-abled children should have been encouraged in terms of employment by the J&K Goverment but unfortunate to say this international player has been neglected.
(Writer: M Ahmad, Principal (I/C), Abhedananda Home, Higher Secondary Institute, Solina, Rambagh, Srinagar, J&K. email: abhome78@gmail.com)
