Members of Jharkhand Thang Ta Association demonstrate the sport at Doon Public School, Dhanbad, on Tuesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, Feb. 17: All forms of martial arts, including karate, muay thai and taekwondo, traces their roots to India but the West mana- ged to develop them as a sport and presented them as their own.

It is to ensure that India doesn’t “lose out to such designs” in the future, that H. Dina Chandra Singh has arrived in Dhanbad to promote a purely Indian form of mar- tial art, Thang Ta, in Jharkhand.

Singh, who is general secretary of the Thang Ta Federation of India, said Thang Ta, which is played with a dummy spear and shield, has its origins in Manipur and was likely to be recognised by the Union ministry of sports within a month.

“The federation has been recognised by the Indian Olympic Association. We have also applied for recognition before the Asian Olympic Association,” Singh said, adding that a competition would be organised at the Asian level soon after its recognition.

Singh, who was accompanied by former national general secretary of the federation, T.H. Priya Kumar, emphasised the need to popularise the sport at a seminar-cum-training programme for instructors of the state at Doon Public School, Kusum Vihar, Dhanbad.

More than two dozen instructors from Giridih, Bokaro, Ranchi and Jamshedpur, besides the host district of Dhanbad, took part in the training programme. Two instructors from neighbouring Bengal also participated.

Singh, who is from Manipur but is based at the federation’s headquarters in New Delhi, said the ancient sport required immediate recognition from the government for its promotion at the international level.

“We have been organising a national Thang Ta event annually since 1993 and would be holding its 17th edition in November at Kanyakumari,” he added.

Newly elected president and chief coach of Jharkhand Thang Ta Association Ranjit Keshri, who was also present, said Thang Ta was introduced in the state last year.

“It has been recognised in more than 10 districts and our players performed well in the last national event held at Sri Ganga Nagar in Rajasthan,” he added.