Taekwondo master talks about the fight
& the hurdles
For Uday Narayan Shukla, Taekwondo is more than a sport, it is philosophy that changed his life.
The 58-year-old master was among the first in the state who took up the Korean martial art in 1976 when he was just 16 years old. He was trained under Luthre Lohar, who was among the senior students of Master Sonny Chong, a second Dan Taekwondo Black Belt from Malaysia who introduced Taekwondo in the state in 1973.
“He (Chong) was here in our state for his higher education. It was then that he decided and started teaching the martial art form in Shillong,” says Shukla.
Shukla got the opportunity to join the Taekwondo Association and start training under Master Chong.
“I was mesmerised by the holistic and beautiful techniques of Taekwondo. It became a passion for me,” the master informs sitting in his shop, a family business, in Police Bazar.
The veteran, whose family shifted to the hill city years ago from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, also confesses the reason why he became so keen on Taekwondo back in his teens. With a mischievous smile unlikely of someone of his age, Shukla says when he was in school, he wanted to be famous but could not find any means to attain the fame. “And then came Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon. I watched the movie 17 times and was fascinated. I realised that martial art was my calling and decided to give luck a chance,” he ends his sentence with a laughter.
In fact, his parents were also unaware of his gruelling training sessions for almost three years. In 1979, he invited his father to an event on the Central Library premises and it was then that they came to know about his talent. “More than angry they were proud,” his eyes glitter as he talks about the past.
Shukla started his own institute in 1982 after six years of training and achieving black belt. He says he would be thankful to many of his friends, especially Kishore Subba, for the institute, Taekwondo Institute of Meghalaya, on Thana Road.
The Taekwondo expert’s journey from Master Chong’s classroom to his own institute was a revelation because “I learnt more as a teacher”.
With the change in time the concept of unarmed combat evolved into a contact sport. After teaching Taekwondo for several years he realised that a master can teach more to a player than teaching only the combat side of the art.
According to Shukla, martial arts is not just about defending oneself from the outer force but also about protecting oneself from the inner evil, “which is more harmful”.
“Taekwondo is like a protecter that shields one from all kinds of bad habits, stress and depression, besides giving one the strength of physical defense,” he explains but adds that to achieve inner peace through training in Taekwondo one has to dedicate years to the ancient form of martial art.
“I am still learning many things. There is no end to knowing the wonders of Taekwondo,” he adds.
Besides his own institute, Shukla, who is also the president of East Khasi Hills District Taekwondo Association, has taught in many places like Assam, Delhi and North Eastern Police Academy. He was also the first Taekwondo coach at Sports Authority of India in Shillong. At present, he trains 35 students at his institute.
Shukla wears many feathers in his cap.
In 1982, the Meghalaya Taekwondo team got the first opportunity to participate in the 3rd National Taekwondo Championships held at KD Babu Indoor Stadium in Lucknow. The event was organised by Taekwondo Federation of India in which Shukla was the only one to reach to the finals and win silver medal for the state for the first time.
In 1983, Shukla was introduced to Korean Grand Master Shin Jaykyun in Nepal by one of his friends Bharat Budhathoki. Master Shin was there to train the Royal Nepal Army where Shukla was promoted to a black belt and started training in Nepal.
In 1983-1984, Shukla got a chance to take part in the 1st Sagarmatha International Taekwondo Championship in which he won a silver medal.This was his first international participation.
In 1998, he was invited directly by the World Taekwondo Academy, Kukkiwon in Seoul, the headquarters of World Taekwondo, to attend the Foreign Instructor Course. He was the first taekwondonist from India to attend the seminar at that time. He had graduated and qualified as an international instructor and was the only representative of India at that time.
Shukla also got a chance to shift base to America in 1998 “but my parents did not want me to leave home”. The missed chance and the fact that Shukla did not get the recognition he deserved in the state never deterred him from dedicating himself to Taekwondo.
He has been participating in many championships since then.
In 2018, Shukla participated along with his team in the 12th International Open Friendship Championship that was organised by IOFTC headquarters in Portland. He won a gold medal in Poomsae.
Shukla says his three brothers, son and daughter are all blackbelt holders and take Taekwondo really seriously.
Talking about the martial art, Shukla says what is lacking in today’s players is courage. “Many have the skills but courage is something that makes you a complete fighter. Earlier, Taekwondo was not a sport and one has to fight without any guards. But after it became a sport, Taekwondo is now fought with all kinds of body shields and expensive modern equipment,” he explains.
Shukla also rues lack of government support. He says modern gears for the sport are expensive and local masters and players need financial help but rarely anything comes their way.
“Lack of both infrastructure and co-ordination creates hurdles for the growth of Taekwondo. Though we have many talented fighters in Meghalaya, where Taekwondo came before any other state, we are not in good ranking at the national level,” he says.
Shukla is sending his players to the National Games 2022 and is hoping for their selection.
~ NM