Anand Ratna talks to reporters in Jorhat on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Jorhat, Nov. 4: Youths of the Northeast have a fascination for the martial arts and some of the best talents in karate in the country have emerged from this region.

Karate expert and former coach of national karate team Anand Ratna said this today while interacting with reporters at the Press Club, Jorhat.

Ratna, who is the chief instructor of Japan Karate Association (India), has come from Mumbai to conduct a two-day state-level training camp organised here by the Jorhat Karate Association in collaboration with the Japan Karate Association (Assam branch) that began today. He will also test participants who have applied for black belt.

Ratna said youths of the region have the “right attitude and spirit” to learn martial arts and in karate some of the best talents in India have emerged from the Northeast.

He said as the region has its own traditional martial art forms the children here have a strong liking for popular martial arts that originated in the South Asian countries.

Ratna said Damang Syngkon from Meghalaya, who is his student, bagged the first gold medal for karate in the country in 1999 at the South Asian Federation Games in Kathmandu.

He said karate coach Stephen Leong from Meghalaya, who died last month, had contributed a lot to tapping talent from the Northeast and taking them to the national mainstream.

Ratna said with television expanding its base in the country and a host of programmes being telecast by various sport channels by combining several martial arts, the popularity of martial arts among the present generation was increasing. Apart from health benefits, those learning and practising karate develop a strong character having higher level of self-confidence and prevents a person of doing anything unlawful, he added.

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