City lad wins silver in taekwondo

LUDHIANA: Shubham Katyal, 15, has kicked his way to winning the silver medal in Junior National Taekwondo Championship that was held in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Shubham was the only one from the city who participated in the championship and impressed the judges with his round kick and hammer kick.
On cloud nine after his win, Shubam said it was a great exposure to compete with players from across the country."Taekwondo is my passion and my aim is to represent India in international taekwondo tournaments. For the last five years I have been practising towards that goal,'' he said.
A student of Class IX in BCM Arya Model School, Shastri Nagar, Shubam said his love for taekwondo was initiated by watching a close friend practice. "It fascinated me and I started training too. As time passed I groomed under my coach Narinder Singh,'' he said.
Shubham practices every day for about four hours both at school and home. All the hours sweating have been worth it since after winning the silver medal he was selected to participate in a national-level taekwondo camp ahead of the Asian Taekwondo Championship.
"My father Hansraj Katyal and mother Savita stand by me during every tournament and my grandfather Baldev Raj Katyal particularly is a huge inspiration,'' said Shubham who stays in New Prem Nagar.
But he rues that facilities provided to taekwondo players is not good enough. "Though more Ludhianvi youths are getting interested in taekwondo, there is no centre or academy here for proper training,'' he said.
Shubam's grandfather said, "He is my hero who has been making us, the city and the state proud at national tournaments. I am looking forward to the day when he will represent the country in international tournaments.''
Appreciating Shubham, his coach said he is a bright player and has been inspiring others in the city. General secretary of District Taekwondo Association, Karan Thakur said along with Shubam, four other taekwondo players from the city, Amandeep Singh, Mudit Sood, Nitya Sood, Shubam Gupta and Sify Bhatia would participate in school games national championship.