Ayeera Chisti and Ansa Chisti are twins. They live at Bemina in Srinagar. They are 15, playful and naughty – like all children their age. They are also national level Wushu martial arts players. The Chisti Sisters, as they are popularly known, have been selected for advanced training at National Centre of Excellence, Bhopal.
Ayeera and Ansa hail from an educated family. Their father Rais ul Hassan Chishti is an engineer by profession, posted at the Baglihar Hydro Electric Power Project. Their mother Dr Jahanara is Assistant Professor in Tibbia College, Kashmir. The girls are multi-talented. They have excelled in painting, dancing, academics and also sports. “We are blessed with these two girls,” say their proud parents.
The Wushu journey for Ayeera and Ansa started in their school, Tiny Hearts, Tangpora, Srinagar. The girls say their teacher Umer Sir introduced them to Wushu. “We did not know what Wushu was. We practiced punches at school because it was fun,” laugh the two sisters.
A year later, the sisters got to know that there were classes for Wushu and other martial arts at the Indoor Stadium in Srinagar. They joined Wushu classes. “It is here that we learnt that Wushu is different from other martial arts. This sport is about kick punch and throw.”
Since 2016, the duo have been training in Kashmir under the guidance of their coach Asiff Hussain. Ayeera and Ansa won their first national competition in 2018 at Jammu. Ayeera won the gold medal and Ansa won the bronze medal.
A year later, in 2019, Ansa won the gold medal in the 39 kg category and Ayeera won the silver medal in the 42 kg category. They won these medals at the 18th Sub Junior National Wushu Championship, which was held at Lovely Professional University in Punjab from February 22 to 27.
“Nothing is possible for us without Asiff Sir. It is the result of his hard work with us that we have reached where we are today,” said Ansa.
Coach Asiff Hussain says the girls are committed to sports. “I have never seen players like them. They practice with total commitment and dedication. They are up early morning for practice sessions. It is highly creditable that they never question me during practice sessions. They do as I suggest, and try to improve their game every day,” said the Coach. The girls are now preparing hard to excel in the sport at national level, and aspire for participation in international championships.
