India's Icebreaker

With a sharp eye and steady hands, a Srinagar techie-turned-athlete is breaking barriers in IcestockSport and lighting a path for Kashmir's next generation.

- Syed Mohammad Burhan

The café in uptown Srinagar is slowly filling up, but Faheem Masood Shah sits quietly in a corner, his tea cooling as he talks about the ice.

That's where his mind is: on frozen rinks, steel sticks, and a puck-like stock that slides across the surface toward a distant target.

At 32, Faheem is India’s top name in IcestockSport, a high-precision winter sport played in the Olympics.

He’s competed in nearly 200 international matches and won medals on three continents. And yet, he talks more about kids picking up the sport than his own victories.

“I want them to see that this is possible,” he says, watching a short clip on his phone—a young boy in Gulmarg landing a perfect shot. “That it’s real.”

From Batamaloo to the Big Leagues

Faheem grew up as a happy-go lucky fellow. He played football on rough roads, raced homemade sleds down icy lanes, and found joy in movement.

Sports were always calling, but Faheem answered the call of academics too. He earned a degree in Computer Engineering and followed it up with a master's in Data Science and Al. A comfortable tech job was right there for the taking. But in 2014, everything changed.

He was in Gulmarg for a snow rugby match when he was introduced to a new sport by Manfred Schafer, then head of the International Federation of IcestockSport. Faheem was handed a stick and asked to aim at a distant target on the ice.