Meet Shaheen Ansari, first Indian woman World Referee for karate

You won't find showpieces at the Ansari's Mazagaon residence. Instead, trophies, cups and medals won at karate tournaments are proudly displayed. This year, it is Shaheen Ansari who has made the family especially proud. She is the first Indian woman to become a World Referee for karate at the World Championships in Linz, Austria.

The winner of several national and international championships, Shaheen retired as an athlete in 2010, after she won the national championship in February. She gave her first referee exam in August the same year.
"To qualify as Referee A (senior-most referee in karate), you need to give six exams—two for kata and four for kumite—at the continent and world levels," says the seventh- degree black belt.

By 2013, she had comepleted the Referee A Asian level exams in a record time of three years. For the 100-mark theory exam, the 44-year-old karateka tells us, "you can afford to get only seven out of 70 questions, wrong. For the practicals, we have to referee six bouts of matches with 10 examiners watching and writing our scores".
The results were declared this October and Shaheen is now Referee A at the world level. "It was the first time in karate history that a woman from India or South Asia had given and cleared the exam."

To add to her joys, Shaheen tells us that in 2014, "I started wearing a hijab—a personal choice. The hijab has never been part of the karate referee uniform, but was introduced by the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the same year. I was very fortunate".

As Referee A, Shaheen can now referee at the Asian Games, World Championships, Olymics and any other official karate tournament by the WKF. As a member of the WKF—the highest karate body in the world, which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Shaheen hopes to be one of the two Asian women referees for karate at the 2020 Olympics, in Tokyo.

She is the vice chair person of the referee commision of the Karate Association of India (KAI), the official and authentic body of karate recognized by the government of India, and a member of the WKF Women's Sports Commission, where she represents Indian women in karate and can help tackle their problems.

Introduced to karate in standard seven, Shaheen's parents were the ones to encourage her to take it up for self defense. After college, she would come home, have a quick lunch and go to class, training approximately six times a week.

Little did Shaheen know then that one day, karate would become her passion and that her teacher would be her husband. "It was rare for a person from my community to pursue karate. But my family and my husband's family were open minded and supported me."

She continued karate after her children were born and proudly tells us that when she retired, her daughter replaced her at the national championships. Both kids are fifth-degree black belts and are national champions.

Shaheen still trains under her husband and both of them conduct classes in schools as well as privately with a lot of national champions in their class. Her day begins with her training routine at 6 am—either at the Mahalaxmi Race Course or at Dojo. After her home chores, she spends the rest of her day teaching karate. Evenings and Sundays are reserved for the family.

Shaheen does not like to think about the challeneges she faced. "There were many, but when you fall, you have get up. I look ahead. Learn from your hurdles and then forget them," she advises.

Referees must...

Have a vision

Be a good athlete, as that's when one understands the scoring techniques

Study the rule book

Watch other referees

Be well groomed