Himachal Pradesh: The National Karate Federation North Zone Championship brought moments of pride for Himachal Pradesh, especially Sirmaur district, as young players from the region performed excellently. Led by coordinator and national referee Neeraj Kumar and coach Dimple, the state team won six gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal to come second in the overall rankings. National player and gold medallist Ashutosh Sharma was also with the Himachali contingent and cheering the participants. Navneet Sharma of Tikri-Pajeli village in Pachhad tehsil was one of the most talented players, winning two gold medals in the under-8 category. His father informed that Navneet is training under the guidance of coach Sanjay Thakur at Star Goju Ryo Karate Academy at Kumarhatti and credited the coach for his son’s success.
The glory of Sirmaur continued in the under-10 category as well, where Parikshit, Naina Tikker of Global Wisdom National Public School won gold medals, while their classmate Ikshit won silver medal. Both were felicitated by their school on return. In this list, Lalit Kashyap, a class 9 student of Government Senior Secondary School, Naina Tikkar, won the gold medal in the under-14 category. Remarkable performance was also seen in the under-17 category, where Akshay Kumar won gold and Vishal Kanwar won bronze, further strengthening Himachal’s position in the championship and strengthening its position for the upcoming national level competitions. The special thing is that most of the medal winners of the Himachal team are from Naina Tikkar area of Sirmaur, where national gold medalist and referee Neeraj Kashyap is continuously training the students. His dedicated efforts are preparing a new generation of Karate players, due to which the name of the district is constantly rising in martial arts.
