First curfew, then lockdown: The unique struggles of Kashmiri athletes

Kashmiri Taekwondoin Afreen Hyder practices in her apartment's corridor in Srinagar on April 19, 2020. The 20-year-old martial arts player shares a two-bedroom apartment with her parents in the region’s main city of Srinagar. But lockdown for the 7 million residents of Kashmir is nothing new and the ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic is not the first time she has had to practice her sport at home. (Source: AP)

Kashmiri kayaker Vilayat Hussain practices on a rugged under-construction wooden ergometer at his home on the outskirts of Srinagar on April 24, 2020. Like many other athletes, the coronavirus pandemic has restricted Hussain to his home. He says going out for practice with others is too high a risk but his priority remains to keep fit. So, he made the wooden Ergometer which still doesn’t have cable and weights to properly work on. “It helps me to maintain my workouts even though it is far from what it should look like,” Hussain says. (Source: AP)

Kashmiri wushu artist Aliza Shah practices along with her sister Kaifa Shah inside their home in Srinagar on April 19, 2020. (Source: AP)

Weights lie next to a makeshift bench of tin boxes and wooden plank covered with thermocol inside the room of weightlifter Bashir Ahmed in Srinagar on April 21, 2020. (Source: AP)

Umer Nabi cycles on top of rollers inside his home in Burzahamahe, on the outskirts of Srinagar on April 28, 2020. (Source: AP)

Kashmiri wushu champion Aijaz Hassan practices inside his home in Srinagar on April 29, 2020. (Source: AP)

An ultra-marathon runner Hamid Aziz practices on the roof of an abandoned community hall outside his house in Srinagar on April 21, 2020. (Source: AP)

Kashmiri football coach Qudsiya Altaf and her sister Kabra Altaf, a judo champion, practice inside a school compound that belongs to their father, near their home in Srinagar on April 20, 2020. (Source: AP)