Seven-and-a-half-year-old Bhargavi Vedagarbha won two gold medals at the third Asia Cup Karate Championship, held between May 3 and May 5 in New Delhi.

The championship was organised by Shito Ryu Seiko Kai Karate Do India, approved by All India Karate Do Federation.

The Class III student of St Dominic Savio’s High School, who has been practising the sport for the past five years, has won around 25 gold medals till date.

Bhargavi said: “I had to practise hard for the competition because my parents warned me that this would be a tough one. Generally, I practise daily for an hour and for four hours on Saturdays and Sundays. But for the past two weeks, I had practised for four hours daily.” Bhargavi was happy, as her hard work has paid off. The judges adjudged her as the best among all the contestants.

“Initially, I was nervous since there were contestants from Malaysia, Japan and Sri Lanka. Though the competition seemed to be a bit easy in the first round but by the time I made it to the third round it turned out to be tough competition,” she said.

Bhargavi got a Black Belt 1st DAN (AIKF and RSKA).

She won gold medals in two forms of karate, kata and kumite.

Bhargavi, daughter of the president of the Sports Karate Do Association of Bihar Nalin Kumar and first woman Black Belt of the state Pinky Singh, was named the “KATA Queen of Bihar” during an open age group inter-state karate championship in 2012.

Bhargavi took part in the 1st Open All India Karate Do Federation Karate Championship in New Delhi in 2012.

This year, Bhargavi and her cousin Bhaskar Vibhuti represented the state in the Under-8 category at the competition in New Delhi. Bhaskar (7), a Black Belt (1st DAN RSKA), won a gold and a bronze medal. He started playing the sport in 2009 and has more than 10 gold medals and few silver and bronze medals to his credit.

Bhaskar confessed that the competition was not easy in the final round and he lost hopes of winning the bronze. But he was happy to finally bag the bronze medal. “I had worked hard for the competition and it has paid off. Next time, too, I hope to perform well,” he said.

Bhaskar won a silver in the Open AIKF KATA in the Under-9 category.