New Delhi, July 8 (IANS): International wushu players Ayeera Chisti and Komal Nagar will grab a lot of attention in the northern zonal round of the Khelo India women’s wushu league to be held at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports in Patiala from July 9 to 13.

A total 350 athletes across sub-junior, junior, and senior categories will be competing in the North Zonal meet that features both Sanda (fighting) and Taolu (forms).

The event is open to wushu players from Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Himachal, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

The North Zonal event follows the South Zonal event held last month in Karnataka. After the four zonal meets, the national ranking championship will be held.

The Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports funds the Rs 7.2 lakh prize money competition conducted by the Wushu Federation of India.

The top eight wushu athletes from the sub-junior, junior and senior events will get cash incentives.

The women’s wushu league will provide an opportunity to several players wanting to make it big like international medallists Ayeera (18 years) and Komal (19 years), who train at the NSNIS Patiala centre.

"I am very excited to play in my home ground here in my third Khelo India women’s wushu league, having won gold in the last two championships," said Ayeera, who debuted in this competition in 2022.

Jammu and Kashmir’s Ayeera, who will take part in the senior 52kg Sanda category, won a bronze at the junior wushu world championship in Indonesia in 2022. She also landed a gold at the international wushu championship in Georgia in 2022 as well as a gold at the Russian Moscow Stars Wushu International Championship in 2024.

"The Khelo India women’s league is very important for a lot of girls especially looking at the future and I’m thankful to the government for this. As for me, I want to clinch gold medal at the Asian Games in the 52kg category and become the first woman to achieve this feat for India in this weight division. Before that, I am aiming for the gold at the senior Asian championships in China this September," she added.

Chandigarh’s Komal, gold medallist at the Russian Moscow Stars Wushu International Championship 2023 in Sanda, said "Getting an opportunity to play one more tournament in the calendar year besides the nationals, bolsters our confidence.

"The Khelo India Women’s league gives us a good playfield for our performance assessment, understand flaws in our game and areas to work on," said Chandigarh’s Komal, who started learning self-defence techniques when she was 14.