Ishrat Akther will compete for India in the Wheelchair Handball World Championship (WHWC) to be held in Cairo.
Ishrat Akther, a 23-year-old female from the Baramulla area of north Kashmir, will compete for India in the forthcoming Wheelchair Handball World Championship in the Egyptian capital Cairo from September 16–21. It will be the third Four-a-Side World Handball Championship that will take place in Cairo.
The Handball Association of India (HAI), which is affiliated to the International Handball Federation (IHF), Asian Handball Federation (AHF), and Commonwealth Handball Association (CHA), has chosen Ishrat and nine other players for the global championship. Ishrat Akther from Bangdara village in Baramulla district has qualified to represent the Indian Wheelchair Handball team.
She is among the top 10 players chosen to play for India internationally. The team will play the World Wheelchair Handball Championship at Cairo from September 16 to September 21. The team consists of two women and eight men players. The Head Coach is Anand Mane who is going all out to forge a good team, so that the team returns with a World Championship medal.
It may be recalled that Ishrat Akhter in August 2016 faced an unusual and unexpected incident in her life as she fell from the balcony, leaving her handicapped for the rest of her life. At that time Ishrat was only 17 years old. But despite facing the odds, Ishrat has inspired many people as she continued to excel in sports.
In 2018 Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI) conducted a camp in Srinagar to select some players for the basketball championship at the National level. In 2019, she was selected for the international basketball championship by the Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India (WBFI) and she represented India in Thailand. Besides playing basketball at the international level, Ishrat participated in the State Level Wheelchair race in 2020 and clinched first position as well.