Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -a desire – a dream , a vision.

Arun Malhotra – born at Mohalla Paharian, Raj Tilak road, Jammu is the most famous and established international footballer from Jammu Kashmir. Arun Malhotra who was born and grew up in Jammu, taught the whole world that to achieve anything,it requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.

Arun was the first to regain the JK footballers prestige in the Indian football team and he did so magnificently by impressing every one with his play. Arun has done lot for his motherland  Jammu for promotion of football. He is doing a lot of things for the promotion of football in his hometown and his ultimate dream of establishing football academy in Jammu. In  last couple of years, Arun has organised number of coaching camps for budding players from his own pockets,he has helped youngsters get into professional football clubs.

His motto of life is to open a Professional and International standard Academy in Jammu for the kids.

He use to practice at Parade ground, when he was kid .He had done his schooling from  Jain hr. Sc. School and then studied in DBN. He got the clerical job in j&k bank  when he was in class 11th and his coach was Mr. Abdul Majid Kakroo. He completed his B.Sc. From science college and at the same time played football for bank team.

In 1999,his hard work yielded him the first sweet fruit of his life which he always dreamt of.He was playing bank tournament at Mumbai and Coach of Air India Mr. Bimal Ghosh came to watch his match.Mr.Ghosh was impressed by his performance and selected him to play for his team on contractual basis. But it was very difficult situation for him to decide whether he leave Bank’s “permanent” job or continue with it.

But he took the risk of his life and ultimately decide to leave bank’s job and join Air India with 2 year’s contract. Someone has rightly said Follow Your Heart – Your Mind Will Catch Up!  He signed the contract and the amount was  lesser than bank salary. But he didn’t worry about that because he was sure about his ability and if he worked hard, he could fulfill his dream and now the result is in front of us.

His mentor Mr. Vipan Gupta,AGM JK Bank,Jaipur,has guided him like his son and Mr. Gupta was there for his help, whenever he was in trouble.

After Air India,he played for East Bengal  (4years) and Mahindra United(3years).In between,he represented Indian football team for 4years from 2002 to 2006 under English coach Stephen Constantine.

Some of his achievements so far

So far he has played 39 International games for India so far. He played his first international career match in Nepal and won the Gold Medal. In 2002-03,he played L.G. Cup in Vietnam. He has also participated in Asia Cup in North Korea in 2003-04.He played Exhibition tournament in Uzbekistan, Pre-Olympic in Turkmenistan, President cup in Maldives, Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, Exhibition tour in Hong Kong and Bangladesh, Asian club Championship in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, Saff Cup In Bangladesh and has also represented India in Pre-world Cup Qualifying round in 2005-06 in Japan.

He is currently playing for ONGC football club in Mumbai for last eight years. Jammu Kashmir Govt. has announced State award for him on 26th Jan 2010.

Talking to Redefining Jammu ,he expressed his disappointment as he got no help from state government, who talks a lot these days on twitter,facebook and in assembly too.But does nothing in reality. The infrastructure in the state is in a worst condition as compared to the state of the art facilities and outstanding grounds available in other parts of India. At the same time, he would like to thank the staff of Jammu university, especially VC Mr. Varun Sahni and Director Dhian Singh Bhau who extended their full hearted support to him whenever he required JU ground, staff and other requirements and the JKFA” Jammu &Kashmir football association” who always encouraged him and the upcoming talent especially Sectreatry Jammu Wing Mr. Surinder Singh Bunty.

He added that no matter what happens, one should always respect his mentors.He thanked  specially Mr. Mohinder Verma (Presently State co coordinator in Sports Authority of India) and  Abdul Majid Kakroo (ex international) for bringing best out of him.

“Himmat -e-Marda, Madad-e-Khuda”

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