GUWAHATI: Assam has a rich tradition of sports like Karate and martial arts. The various forms of self defense are reminders of our glorious past. The state has produced top fighters, who have won acclaim for their skills in the field in national as well as international championships. One such fighter is Guwahati’s Samir Das – a 5th Dan Karate black-belt holder.
Born in Guwahati to Late Buluram Das (a railway employee) and Kamala Das (a housewife), Samir did his schooling from Railway Higher Secondary School, Pan Bazaar. As a child, Samir had always been inclined more towards sports than studies. He played football and cricket. But he started learning and practicing Karate at the young age of 12.
Recalling his initial thrust to learn Karate, Samir told G Plus, “I was around 8 years old when I had gone on a tour with my father and his friends. We faced some problems during the tour and I felt helpless for not being able to help my father. It was then that I decided to learn self defense. But I had only heard about the art form and did not know where it was taught so I started practicing on my own, watching the sport on TV.”
During one of his visits to Nehru Stadium for football practice, Samir found out about Karate classes. He decided to get enrolled and got training under his first teacher, Ratul Boro. It has been 25 years since then and the student has now become a teacher himself.
Samir runs one of the finest institutions in the city imparting training in Karate. Assam Shitu-Ryo Karate-Do Association, located at Railway Colony, is one of the pioneering institutions of the region in imparting world-class training in Karate. Launched in 1992, the institution inculcates the values of self discipline, hard work, courage and punctuality in the students.
At present, over 60 students are training under the guidance of Samir, among which 20 are girls. Over the past two and a half decades, Assam Shitu-Ryo Karate-Do Association has produced several black-belt holders, who have participated in championships worldwide. Samir’s aim is to send his students to the highest sporting event - Olympics.
In the past decade, many schools have opened their doors to impart training to their students to practice and excel in different forms of martial arts. Samir imparts training and organizes self defense camps in various schools across the city, including private institutions like Don Bosco School and South Point School, as well as many public schools like Railway Higher Secondary School, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bengali Girls’ School and Ulubari Girls’ Higher Secondary School.
“A lot of young boys and girls have started showing interest in the art form recently. Self defense camps have gained massive popularity in Guwahati. But just a 10-days workshop or camp won’t yield desired results. If you learn martial arts or Karate, it becomes much more helpful in difficult times,” says Samir.
Samir has participated in and won many state, national as well as international championships. His professional career began with the 1985 National Games held in Kolkata, where he was selected but couldn’t participate due to financial problems. He achieved his first feat in 1987, by becoming the grand champion of Northeast Open Karate Championship. In the same, he also won the Gold medal at Open Taekwondo Championship that was held in Guwahati.
Samir is now 5 times national champion, 8 times state champion and 3 times northeast champion. He has also been a gold medalist at the South Asian Karate Championship and has participated in various world championships. In 2007, Samir became the first person from Assam to get selected in the World Karate Championship as well as the Commonwealth Games.
Having been practicing the art for around 3 decades, Samir has seen the art evolve from a traditional art form to a contemporary sport. When he started off in the field, very few people were making a career in such art forms. But now, he says he has seen a huge number of people build their careers in Karate and martial arts, representing the country worldwide.
“In Assam, although the sport has started to gain popularity, we need the government to promote it aggressively and provide incentives to the sportspersons. Only then will we be able to produce world class fighters. Assam has a lot of talents waiting to be tapped,” he told G Plus.