By Ramesh Mathew
Published: Friday, 28 March, 2008, 04:41 AM Doha Time
THE increasing migration of Japanese martial art trainers from their home land these days to Europe has drastically altered the equations in karate, said a prominent exponent of the discipline from India, who has won laurels for his country at South Asian level a number of occasions.
“The main reason behind their movement to the west is the neglect to karate in Japan as a sport these days,” said Chennai-based Jacob Devakumar, a leading karate technical delegate and a former Indian national champion.
Devakumar is in Doha on a private assignment. The exponent, whose name was synonymous with the discipline in South Asia until the early 1990s, feels that karate is suffering in that region owing to the presence of numerous schools.
“Actually, it is a matter of concern not only to performers from South Asia but virtually everyone involved in the discipline,” said Devakumar.
He attributes this to administrators’ refusal to accept karate as a sport world wide and patrons of each school in virtually every country involved in one-upmanship over others.
Otherwise, it would have long been a sport at the Olympics, said Devakumar. Martial disciplines with less following than karate have already been accepted as an Olympic sport, he rued.
Stressing that every form of karate has its beauty and flavour, Devakumar who follows Shito-Ryu school of thought said with the increasing migration of Japanese masters to the West, Asia’s domination is virtually over.
At the same time, countries like France, UK and Northern Ireland have been capitalising on their move and have emerged as strong teams at the international level.
Spain and Belgium too are supporting karate in a great way and Japanese trainers are giving out their best to build up strong teams there as well, said Devakumar.
“However, among most Asians, still there is a great hesitation to accept it as a sport,” he added.
For instance in India, at the school level there is a great level of enthusiasm among students to experiment new tactics. A number of schools do have full-time trainers.
“But once they grow up, the students forget the skills acquired in childhood in the absence any follow up,” he said.
“What I have learnt from my numerous years of international experience is that in the Middle East, Iran has been putting in a lot of efforts to come to world standards. Their exponents are certainly the best in the region,” said the trainer.
It’s not that others are not that good but very few are taking it up as a sport in the region, he said. “It is being mainly taught in the region as a defensive strategy and not as a sport,” stressed the trainer.
