” Shehnaz Yousafzai ”
Named in the Guinness World Record Book, hailing from a remote village of South Waziristan Irfan Mehsood, the Pakistani Martial Art supreme received the Presidential Pride of Performance Award, the highest civil award for his outstanding performances.
The President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi conferred Pakistan’s civil awards on 135 citizens as well as foreign nationals recently on March 23rd with include the name of Irfan Mehsood in recognition of his excellence and gallantry role as a Martial Art athlete.
“It was a dream come true when entering into Aiwan-e-Sadr for receiving the highest civil award “Presidential Pride of Performance”, a jubilant Irfan Mehsood told media in a reception held in his honor at his native village, South Waziristan.
Born on Dec 25, 1989 in South Waziristan, Irfan Mehsood is 63 times Guinness World Record holder, a unique honor he has as an athlete. He is the only athlete in the world to hold the most records (30) in Guinness World Record’s push-ups category. He has been practicing martial arts and boxing since 2005 and surprisingly nine of his students are also Guinness World Record holders.
Irfan Mehsood broke 12 world records for India. He also broke world records of 12 other countries including USA, UK, Italy, Egypt, India, France, Philippines, Iraq etc. He set 22 Guinness World Records in just one year.
Besides such achievements in the field of Martial Art, Irfan Mehsood has 44th times Guinness world record holder, Wushu Kungfu (shaolin), a Chinese Martial Art, Gold medalist, winning gold medal in erstwhile FATA during the National Games and for KP as well in the Game of Chinese Martial Art “Wushu”.
He has a Black Sash (Black Belt) 3rd Dan in Wushu Kung Fu (Chinese Martial Arts) besides being an expert in Boxing, Gymnastic, Mixed Martial Arts, Kickboxing, Self Defense without arms and Archery.
He also won awards like Pride of Waziristan, given by him the Waziristan Youth Forum, Pride of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, given by Akash Foundation, and winner of Pride of Pakistan Book of Records.
Irfan Mehsood has set 22 Guinness World Records in one year. According to the details given by Irfan Mehsud, he said, during his one year performance, he defeated records of 12 countries across the globe. He is one of the top martial arts athletes in the country, having 63 records mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Irfan belongs to the South Waziristan District, but he lives in Dera Ismail Khan and mostly did his practice in Dera. He is the first person to introduce Wushu, MMA, and boxing in his area. He is also a national, KP, and former FATA level gold medalist in Wushu and Shaolin Wushu Kung Fu.
He has been pursuing his passion for martial arts since his teenage years and began training in 2005 “right after his matriculation”, said Irfan Mehsood.
“I turned my passion into a purpose after my family was internally displaced due to the Waziristan operation in 2009. We moved to Dera Ismail Khan with my family, among others, but I continued my Martial Art training even in Dera Ismil Khan,” Irfan Mehsood while narrating his story said.
Along with his passion as a martial art athlete, Irfan has done his M.Phil from Gomal University in Sports Science and also coaches at The Lion’s Den Mixed Martial Art Fight Club.
Irfan Mehsood was inspired by Jackie Chan, who is known in the cinematic world for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts, which he typically performs himself.
My objective is to seek a career position in a progressive organization, which should be challenging and demanding where I can practice my repertoire and learn new skills as I believe that any highest goal in life can be achieved through hard work, honesty, efficiency, dedication and discipline,” Irfan Mehsood said
