KARATE KIDS FROM CHENNAI
Posted on: 14/Aug/2010 1:10:45 AM
Seven children from Chennai have won individual and team events in the 3rd World Children, Junior & Cadet Karate Championship, which was held on July 24th & 25 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They won gold, silver and bronze medals in individual and team karate events. S. Sharan and R. Jyothi Krithika bagged the gold medals and were adjudged the World Kata Champions. The other team members were Prasanna Kumar, Ganesh Ram and Mani Shankar who bagged silver and bronze medals in team events.More than 400 participants from 16 countries contested in the event. It was the first time that Indian juniors participated in a world championship. The coach of the team, S. Kothandan, said the training involved one-and-a-half hours of karate practice every day and also focused on building mental concentration to regulate breathing and mentally simulate timing during the fight sessions.
S. Sharan, a student of class V in SBOA School & Junior College, said he owed his victory to the support of his parents and his trainer. He has been learning karate for six years now. R. Jyothi Krithika, a class IX student of CSI Jessie Moses Matriculation School, said it was her concentration and training in world class techniques that helped her remain a winner throughout the tournament. “The competition was tough, but the whole experience of going abroad and meeting new people was fun,`` she said. The winners of the team were invited to the Indian embassy in Buenos Aires and felicitated by R. Viswanathan, Ambassador to Argentina.
