International sporting stars to study at SIT in 2015

After conquering 6 of the 7 peaks of the world Indian twins Tashi and Nungshi Malik are set to take on their next adventure. The Malik twins have each been awarded a New Zealand India Sports Scholarship (NZISS) to study the Graduate Diploma in Sport and Exercise at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) in Invercargill in 2015.

Before coming to study in New Zealand the sisters have a goal of climbing the final of the 7 peaks, Mt Vinson in Antarctica December 2014. This will make the Malik twins the first siblings and first twins to successfully climb all 7 peaks of the world. This is part of mission #2 for 7 which was “born out of the juxtaposition of our love for mountaineering and our desire to fight for the cause of Indian girl child. Coming from a place with female feticide and increasing violence against the girl child, we want to stand for her as she climbs mountains through life’s journey. Using our mountaineering as a metaphor for life’s climbs and breaking gender stereotypes, we want to show her that she can conquer every obstacle that’s thrown her way.” (www.nungshitashi.com)

The New Zealand India Sports Scholarship is funded by the New Zealand government will cover all 2015 tuition fees to study at SIT for Tashi and Nungshi plus a contribution to their living costs. Ten lucky scholars from India were awarded a NZISS to study at institutions in New Zealand. SIT secured the highest number of awardees with three of the ten scholarships coming to study the Graduate Diploma in Sport and Exercise in 2015. Yogesh Sharma joins the twins as SIT’s third NZISS awardee.

Yogesh is a physiotherapist by profession and is actively involved with private Cricket Academies in Delhi (North India) giving young cricketer’s physical training and cricket coaching. He was a local physician/trainer for the Canadian National Cricket Team when they were in India for the Cricket World Cup warm-up games. Sharma has also assisted the Rajasthan Royals (Indian Premier League) team on various occasions.

The scholarship winners were delighted to receive their awards from Stephen Fleming - Former Black Caps captain and Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy in New Delhi at a special celebration to kick off the 2015 World Cricket Cup (to be held in New Zealand and Australia).

SIT, CE Penny Simmonds said she was delighted that SIT had secured the most scholarships of any Tertiary Institute and having meet Tashi and Nungshi Malik she is sure they and Yogesh Sharma will be real assets to the Southland community while they are at SIT next year. Ms Simmonds said she hoped community organisations would make the most of having three high profile Indian sports people in our midst by asking them to speak and take part in community activities.

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