The seventh-degree black belt and winner of a various national and worldwide titles Shaheen Ansari is the first Indian lady to wind up distinctly a World Referee for karate at the World Championships in Linz, Austria. A residents of Mazagaon proudly show the cups, trophies and medals won at various karate competitions decorated in her Hall Of The Fame
The journey was not easy and this 44-year-old has confronted many obstacles in her challenging career, she says , "There were lots of probles and difficulties, yet when you fall, you need to get up. I look ahead. Gain from obstacles and after that overlook them".
Shaheen, the mother of two children, proudly retired from the game in 2010 and endeavored her first official referee examination in August 2010. "To qualify as Referee A (senior-most ref in karate), you have to pass six exams—two for kata and four for kumite—at the continent and world levels," she tells the DNA.
She passed the Referee A Asian level exams in a record time of three years, i.e. by 2013. "You can bear to get just seven out of 70 questions, wrong. For the practicals, we need to refree six episodes of matches with ten inspectors watching and composing our scores," she said when asked in regards to the exam organize.
The results were reported this October, and she has passed. She is currently a Referee An at the world level. "It was the first time through in karate history that a lady from India or South Asia had given and cleared the exam," she said cheerfully.
She is additionally cheerful that now hijab is a piece of the karate referee uniform as she wears it, an individual decision made in 2014. She said, "I began wearing a hijab—an individual decision. The hijab has never been a piece of the karate official uniform yet was presented by the World Karate Federation (WKF) around the same time. I was extremely blessed".
As Referee A, Shaheen can refree at the Asian Games, World Championships, Olympics and some other authority titles by the WKF. She is the vice chairperson of the referee commission of the Karate Association of India (KAI), the official and true body of karate perceived by the Government of India.
She started karate in class seven. It was her mom and dad who urged her to take up this game for self-protection. She practiced six times each week. She used to return home from school, have her lunch and leave for her practice. Progressively with time, karate turned into her energy, and she went ahead to win some significant national and universal competitions.
She wedded her karate instructor. "It was uncommon for a person from my community to seek after karate. Be that as it may, my family and my husband's family were liberal and supported me." She kept playing the game even after her kids who are presently, both fifth-degree black belts and national champions. A pleased mother, she says that it was her girl who supplanted her at the national titles when she retired.
Despite everything she prepares under her husband and together they lead classes in schools and privately as well. They even have national champions in their classes. Shaheen starts her morning preparing routine at 6 am either at the Mahalaxmi Race Course or at Dojo. Post her home errands she spends whatever is left of the day, showing karate and has her nighttimes and Sundays saved for the family.
In future Shaheen Ansari hopes to be one of the two Asian ladies refs for karate at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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