Vedajyoti Ozah of Houston, Texas, has embarked upon the - Posoowa
Vedajyoti Ozah of Houston, Texas, has embarked upon the - Posoowa
Vedajyoti Ozah of Houston, Texas, has embarked upon the - Posoowa
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Fighting Fit Darshanjita<br />
FACT FILE:<br />
· Age: 23<br />
· Current Fita rank: 16<br />
· Best Fita rank: 2 (10.10.2006)<br />
· Started career: 2001 in <strong>the</strong> Tata<br />
Archery Academy<br />
Major Achievements<br />
2006<br />
2008<br />
2009<br />
24<br />
· Gold (individual) at World Cup<br />
in Porec, Croatia<br />
· Bronze (team) in Asian Games<br />
in Doha<br />
· Gold (individual) in SAF Games<br />
in Colombo<br />
· Gold (team) in World Cup stage<br />
III in Antalya, Turkey<br />
· Gold (team) in World Cup stage<br />
I in Santo Domingo, Dominican<br />
Republic<br />
· Gold (individual and team) in<br />
World Cup stage II in Porec,<br />
Croatia<br />
By Manoj Goswami<br />
(With inputs from Delhi Bureau)<br />
This is <strong>the</strong> story <strong>of</strong> a young<br />
Assamese girl who is learning<br />
Taekwondo in South Korea.<br />
Quite an unusual pursuit indeed even<br />
by our progressive Assamese standards.<br />
However, none <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> stereotypes held<br />
her back. Darshanajita Bharali hails<br />
from Dhakuakhana, from <strong>the</strong><br />
Lakhimpur district <strong>of</strong> Assam, with<br />
seven years <strong>of</strong> experience as a national<br />
level Taekwondo player. Well-trained<br />
under skilled Korean and Iranian<br />
coaches in Indian camps, she <strong>has</strong> won<br />
many medals in this field and holds a<br />
Dan-2 Black Belt. After completion <strong>of</strong><br />
her 12 th standard she is now in South<br />
Korea, where she is learning different<br />
aspects <strong>of</strong> Taekwondo – <strong>the</strong><br />
Taekwondo dance, Poomse (forms),<br />
breaking, and acrobatic Taekwondo –<br />
and is also teaching English Taekwondo<br />
at <strong>the</strong> Korean Taekwondo Centre.<br />
Darshanjita’s parents work in <strong>the</strong><br />
medical department in Assam. She <strong>has</strong><br />
two sisters and a bro<strong>the</strong>r. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
sisters is married and <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two are<br />
pursuing <strong>the</strong>ir studies. Her fa<strong>the</strong>r being<br />
an avid sports lover, she <strong>has</strong> been<br />
interested in sports since her childhood<br />
days. He introduced her to sports at<br />
<strong>the</strong> age <strong>of</strong> 13 and became her first<br />
coach. He wanted her to get into<br />
athletics initially but she could not<br />
pursue it due to lack <strong>of</strong> facilities and<br />
proper infrastructure in Dhakuakhana.<br />
She, <strong>the</strong>refore, switched to Taekwondo.<br />
Her mo<strong>the</strong>r had a big role to play in<br />
this switchover and it was her<br />
encouragement that gave her <strong>the</strong><br />
courage to join this tough game.<br />
Initially, she had joined <strong>the</strong><br />
Dhakuakhana Taekwondo Club where<br />
Mr. Krishna Kanta Gogoi had coached<br />
her. He used to train his students twice<br />
a day, in <strong>the</strong> mornings and in <strong>the</strong><br />
evenings. She gained interest and<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>iciency in <strong>the</strong> game very soon and<br />
practiced with whole hearted devotion,<br />
never missing a single class. Her hard<br />
work bore fruit and she developed her<br />
skills pretty quickly. In fact, she was so<br />
good that her coach gave her<br />
permission to participate in <strong>the</strong> interdistrict<br />
championship when she was<br />
only a yellow-belt holder. She was very<br />
excited as normally no one under a<br />
green-belt (which is awarded after <strong>the</strong><br />
yellow) gets permission to participate<br />
in such events. She was so enthused by<br />
this that she went on to win <strong>the</strong> gold<br />
medal in <strong>the</strong> event!<br />
She soon got a call to join <strong>the</strong> national<br />
camp, where she trained rigorously for<br />
three weeks under Coach Mr. Praban<br />
Saikia, who was himself an<br />
POSOOWA May 2009