City’s ‘karate kid’ bags 2 golds at Siliguri

Ludhiana: The city’s 12-year-old Karate practitioner, Sehajbir Singh Gill, has bagged two gold medals at the 18th All India Inter-School and Senior Karate Championship Federation Cup 2019 at Siliguri in West Bengal. The event was organised by the All India Seissin Kai Shito-Ryu Karate-Do Federation.
Sehajbir’s mother Gurpreet Kaur, who had accompanied him to the sports event, said her son won two gold medals in Kumite (Conventional Fight) and Kaata (Shadow Fight) categories in the National Championship on December 14 and 15.She added that on the basis of his performance at the championship, he has been selected for Commonwealth Karate Federation Cup to be held in England in 2020.
Gurpreet said her son was selected for the Siliguri event on the basis of his performance at the Fifth International Karate Championship 2019 in July in Kolkata, where he won one gold and silver medal each in two different events.
Sehajbir has also won a gold in the World Karate Cup Championship matches held at Cape Town in South Africa in 2011. Not only this, he has also made the country proud by clinching a silver medal in an international karate championship held in Japan in 2014 and also got a silver medal in the Commonwealth Karate Cup in 2018 at Durban in South Africa.
Speaking to TOI, Gill said he had been since he was three-and-half years old. He added that initially, he was trained by lcoal coach Deepak Kumar, and was still getting training from him. He added that thereafter, he went to Kolkata for advanced coaching, and trained under Premjit Sen for two months every year.
Asked about his inspiration to learn the game, he said he had developed a passion for Karate from the movie ‘Karate Kid’. “I am working very hard to win an Olympic medal. My mission is to win a gold at the Olympics, and make my country proud. I train hard every day and don’t miss my trainings. My parents and coach help me improve at every step,” he said.
His parents said they were proud of his achievements, and added that the school where he studies has also been very supportive of their son.