Martial Arts sport Judo and Taekwondo making good strides in India.
There are a total of 23 gold medals to play for at the Olympics (Judo with 15 and Taekwondo with 8). India for a long time has not invested in these martial
sports which if invested can see India getting good number of medals in the future. Let us take the example of Japan who had won a total of 27 gold medals in
out of which 9 are from Judo alone which is 1/3rd of their gold tally. Merely investing in sport has given Japan good results.
The Juniors and sub juniors have had good results off late at the World Level.
Taekwondo
There are a total 14 weight categories across both men’s and women’s section along with the team event at the Olympics. If given importance in future India
can churn out good number of athletes and medals.
Overall India finished with a total of 4 bronze medals at the recently concluded Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships.
Aranya Thakur:
She had a stellar season this year starting off with winning a silver medal at the World Cadet Championships and then again winning a silver at the Asian
Cadet Championships. This athlete looks very promising of making it big at the junior and senior. She is just studying IX and has a lot of potential.
Point to noted is that not all athletes from Cadet make it big at the Junior and senior level.
Shaurya Chakravarti:
Peace Taekwondo Academy along with Tokas academy have been producing huge number of talents from India at the National and Global level. 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. He faced a lot of difficulties in funds while travelling to Sofia for World Juniors and if given proper attention can shine big in the 55kg category.
Judo
Linthoi Chanabam:
The 15 year old from Manipur has created history by becoming the 1st Indian ever to win a gold medal at the World Championship ( Cadet, Junior, and Senior).She is supported by IIS Vijayanagar and is a part of TOPS scheme as well.
Linthoi beat all her compatriots by making an Ippon until the finals. In the finals she faced Brazil’s Bianca Reis who is a Pan American Junior Champion by Waza Ari. Apart from this Linthoi had won the silver medal at the Asia Oceania Junior Championships as well 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 though did not have a good Asian Championships held in August 1st week losing out in the first round itself. With experience and age he will definitely be a good asset
for India.
India also had a good commonwealth games after its inclusion after the 2014 edition.
Article by M, Sudharshan (written in Aug 2022)
