Madurai team wins six int’l taekwondo medals

Madurai: A taekwondo team from Madurai has won six medals including two gold at an international championships held in Malaysia last week.

All six participants representing India in the event are from Madurai. Participants from four other south Asian countries - Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and hosts Malaysia were also part of the event that concluded on March 9.

Gold medals were won by N Narayanan, 29, and Prakash Kumar in the masters and senior division and silver medals by Vishnupriyan , Ardhiyaksh in the under-14 and under-11 age categories while Narayanan’s wife, Shruthi won a bronze medal in the senior women’s category and Vijay Arunachalam won a bronze medal in senior division.

Narayanan, who runs Madurai Taekwondo Academy said that he wishes to create awareness about the Korean martial art, which is also now an Olympic sport. Narayanan, who left his job as a software engineer in Chennai to set up the academy in his hometown, Madurai five years ago said that he took to the martial art during a tough time in his life.

“It helped me deal with the death of my father. I had a distraction and soon it turned out to be an obsession,” Narayanan said. This is the first time, students from his academy participated in an international event. Narayanan had earlier participated in an event in Korea in November 2018, where he won gold.

“This is a martial art, which can be used in self defence and also as a form of exercise,” said Narayanan.


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss yearly career horoscopes 2025 for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.