Meet the starlets spearheading the rise of Martial Arts in India

15-year-old Linthoi Chanambam from Manipur became the first Indian to win a medal at World Championships.

There are a total of 23 gold medals to play for at the Olympics (Judo with 15 and Taekwondo with 8) in martial arts. India for a long time has not invested in martial arts which if invested can see India getting a good number of medals in the future. Let us take the example of Japan which won a total of 27 gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics out of which nine are from Judo alone which is 1/3rd of their gold tally and a good investment in martial arts has given Japan good results.

The Juniors and sub-juniors have had good results of late at the World Level.

Taekwondo

Aranaya Thakur

She had a stellar season this year starting off with winning a silver medal at the World Cadet Championships. She then again won a silver at the Asian Cadet Championships. This athlete looks very promising of making it big at both the junior and senior levels. She is just studying in 9th standard and has a lot of potential going forward.

The point to be noted is that not all athletes who perform well in the Cadet section make it big at the Junior and senior levels. Many athletes fail to transition from cadet to junior so proper guidance and coaching are required to make it big.

Shaurya Chakravarti

Peace Taekwondo Academy along with Tokas academy has been producing a huge number of talents from India at the National and Global levels. Shaurya a Peace Academy athlete had recently finished 9th at the World Junior Taekwondo Championships. In the recently concluded Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships, he claimed the bronze medal after losing out in the SF. The athlete faced a lot of difficulties in funds while travelling to Sofia for World Juniors. If she is given proper attention can shine big in the 55kg category.

There are a total of 14 weight categories across both men's and women's sections along with the team event at the Olympics. If given importance in the future India can churn out a good number of athletes and medals.

Overall India finished with a total of 4 bronze medals at the recently concluded Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships.

Judo

Linthoi Chanambam the 15-year-old from Manipur has created history by becoming the 1st Indian ever to win a gold medal at the World Championship. She is supported by IIS Vijayanagar and is a part of the TOPS scheme as well.

Linthoi beat all her compatriots by making an Ippon until the finals. In the finals, she faced Brazils Bianca Reis who is a Pan American Junior Champion by Waza Ari. Apart from this Linthoi won the silver medal at the Asia Oceania Junior Championships adding to her medal kitty.

Nithin Chauhan the 23-year-old won the silver medal at the European Meet in June this year. He became the first Indian to achieve this feat. He did not have a good Asian Championships held on August 1st week before this year losing out in the first round itself. With experience and age, he will definitely be a good asset for India.

Recently India won a good number of medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Judo is not a permanent sport at the Commonwealth Games and might not be added in the next edition.

Academies supporting Taekwondo

Aman Khadyan, Latika Bhandari, Shivansh Tyagi, Afreen Hyder, and Shaurya Chakravarti became the top athletes in their respective weight categories and they train at the Peace Taekwondo Academy. This year many athletes won several medals at the champions of champions series held across different venues in India to spread the sport across India.

Lucky Rathee, Shivang Singh recently won the gold and silver medals at the recently held Israel Ranking series. Both these athlete train at the Tokas academy another famous academy in India who have trained both the abled and para-athletes. Vishal Kumar and Sandeep Mann are some of the few para athletes doing well at the global event.

To date India has won only one bronze medal at the Asian Games and with the games due to be held next year we might get to see an increase in the medals tally.

Every year there are Khelo India series for respective sports being held in different zones across India and has seen maximum athletes taking part which is a good sign.