By Dino Renthlei
SHILLONG, May 5: With approximately 2,500 athletes competing across 19 sports disciplines, the 4th Meghalaya Games has witnessed it’s largest-ever participation until date. Despite some initial hiccups prior to its commencement, the Games has been smooth sailing so far for the state’s future stars, providing them a platform to showcase their skills and build opportunities to represent Meghalaya at the national level.
One such sport that has benefitted following a two-year hiatus, according to officials, is karate.
The contact sport has also attracted the highest number of karatekas this year at a total of 244, a figure well beyond last edition’s. This is attributed to the fact that for this year’s Meghalaya Games, the sport has competitors participating across four categories – juniors, sub-juniors, cadets and seniors across 32 sub-categories – as compared to only the senior category the last time around.
Speaking on the positive development, secretary of the All Meghalaya Karate-Do Association (AMKA) Ksan Kupar Warjri said that despite the increasing number of karatekas, there was no representation from any districts of Garo Hills. All 244 participants are currently representing East Khasi Hills, West Khasi Hills, South West Khasi Hills, Eastern West Khasi Hills, East Jaintia Hills, and West Jaintia Hills districts.
“Karate is generally Shillong-centric in the state. Karate being a technical game requires an instructor or mentor unlike other sports disciplines wherein the athlete can practice on his/her own. Currently, we only have two professional coaches from the directorate in DamangSyngkon and Linza Fenny Syiem, both of who have been offered new roles. This leaves both coaching seats vacant.
“We do have some other qualified coaches but sending them to train the youngsters in Garo Hills without any incentives is a challenge. If some arrangements are made to hire at least a contractual coach, it would be of great help as we would be able to send some of our association’s coaches to parts of Garo Hills region,” Warjri said.
While no individuals are representing any of the districts in Garo Hills region in the ongoing competition, there are several Garo participants representing either the Khasi Hills or Jaintia Hills districts.
Meghalaya has produced a number of superstars in the sport of karate including Linza, former winner of 7th Junior Shoto World Cup Karate Championship held in Paris in 1998, along with South Asian Games gold medallist Damang, and South Asian Games silver medalist, Banshanlang Kharumnuid.
More recently, local girl Wandahunshisha Mawblei, assisted by coach Donboklang Lyngdoh, won gold in the girls cadet individual Kumite-54 kg after defeating Sri Lanka at the 5th Junior, U-21 & Senior South Asian Karate Championship 2019 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
“We have just started training and hope to produce more stars in the near future. There is a lot of potential talent in our crop of youngsters and hope they will be able to compete one day in the senior nationals,” Warjri added.
Praising the government’s initiative to turn the Meghalaya Games into an annual affair, the AMKA secretary said that this will serve as a solid platform for exposure that will help the young karatekas compete more often.
Kharumnuid, who is currently serving as one of the referees in the karate event, was however, not completely satisfied with the quality of the young karatekas’ skills blaming it on the long break owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kharumnuid was, however, optimistic that in the following year, there should be improvement after receiving due training.
He further added that there is a dire need for coaches to travel out of the state as part of exposure trips, explaining that such trips will help develop the coaches’ ability to provide more intensive training and strategies to the youngsters.
“Our coaches hardly ever travel out of the state or country for any exposure trips, which is a major drawback. For our students, we need to revamp our training facilities by acquiring proper gym equipment. The modern form of karate is all about speed. Hence, having proper gym equipment to condition their bodies for endurance and stamina will make a massive difference,” he signed off.
The wild enthusiasm and support from the young karatekas’ parents and fans a like is testament that while many other contact or combat sports are gaining popularity, karate has and will always remain close to the hearts of Meghalayans.