Karate champion Valena Valentina. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 24: Karate champion Valena Valentina has made the state proud by winning gold medals in many state-level, national and international events, hence turning into the golden karateka (karate player) of Orissa.

Valentina left for Delhi on Sunday evening to join the national squad to take part in the 20th World Senior Karate Championships to be held in Belgrade, Serbia from October 28.

Followers of the sport from across the state have high hopes from her and it is not without a reason. Valentina, who has grown up in Bhubaneswar, began learning karate from the age of 10 at the Utkal Karate School in the city. She was coached by Hariprasad Pattnaik. Sport was something she always loved even as a child, with both her parents being state level players — her father was a footballer and mother, an athlete.

Valentina received her Black Belt title in 1999 as a 14-year-old and she has been on a winning streak right from the year she started learning the sport. “I had won many titles during my sub-junior days in the state. But I also stood seventh in the nationals and in the same event an year later I won the silver,” she said. She has also claimed the state championship gold medal continuously for the last 13 years, won three national gold medals in successive years in the cadet group and also grabbed gold in the national senior level women karate championships for 2009 and 2010. She has also been in the top five at many events organised by the Asian Karate Federation.

“Of all awards, what I cherish most is the silver I won in the South Asian Federation Games this February. I made it to the finals through a very tough competition,” she said.

At present, coached by J.S. Kalaimani in Chennai, Valentina has also been selected for the forthcoming Asian games. “It’s sad that karate is not an event at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics. With women from many states of the country participating in the events, India could have won few medals in this event for sure had it been a part of these international sporting events,” she lamented.

However she is glad the state government is supporting the sport and the players.

The karate champion, who idolises coach Pattnaik, wishes to continue playing for as long as she can and then turn towards refereeing.

“I can’t think about anything else and have no aspirations at all when it comes to studies,” said Valentina, a post-graduate student of public administration at the Utkal University.