Overview

Taekwondo is a sparring sport with an emphasis on acrobatic kicks and lunges practised in BITS Pilani in accordance with the World Taekwondo (WTF) rules. As the sport places a premium on stamina, the team’s exercise regimen incorporates high amounts of running and resistance training – along with supplementary activities such as bi-weekly trips to Pahadi.

Competitive Taekwondo consists of two opponents sheathed in chest and head guards, direct hits to which award points subject to the area of attack. In contrast with other martial-arts based sports, practitioners do not use their arms except in tandem with kicks in dazzling combination moves or to grab when in close-quarters. Hits below the belt or to other restricted zones incur a penalty.

A typical training session for the BITS Team commences at 5:30 PM on the upper floors of SAC, where members run up-and-down the staircase fifty times, before proceeding to jogging, and other agility drills. After an hour’s warm-up, the team moves on to kicking drills and sparring practise, either with pads or with sparring partners until 8:00 PM, when they conclude their drills with cool-down exercises, on top of the weight training they go through every morning.

Their training regimen seems intense, but so are the energy and fitness demands of competitive Taekwondo. The team has pinned medal hopes this year on a number of players; Anubhav and Mayank in the 63-68 kg category, Mukul in 54-63 kg category and Garima in the women’s divisions.

Past Performance

The team, consisting of 17 members has been among the college’s more successful sports teams, with gold medals expected in almost every weight class. Further, it is the only sports team from BITS at the University Nationals, where in 2016, a team member advanced as far as the pre-medal round before losing to the BOSM gold-medallist.

Recruitments

Curiously, there exists no formal recruitment process or trials to make the team – a person regular to the team’s open practice sessions over a semester and in good fighting shape is directly inducted into the team. This year, the team has two new players – a first year experienced in competitive Taekwondo, and a third year inducted via the aforementioned process.

Captain’s Interview

Mitul Sharma, the captain of the Taekwondo team gives the impression of a man conscientious about work and a meticulous planner – he only agreed to meet us en route to one of his classes. Hailing from New Delhi, he picked up Taekwondo early in his schooling years but later dropped out, only to resume his study once in college.

The sport has had an interesting history in BITS according to Mitul – “The Taekwondo team is just five years old, and was incepted as a martial arts club, without mats or a dedicated hall. The coach was a Judo practitioner (a Judoka) and so the club started off practising Judo.” With the induction of Aditya Deshmukh(Batch 2014) who had been a competitive Taekwondo fighter, a Taekwondo regimen was introduced into their daily training. When the club went competitive, Taekwondo was chosen, being the more popular sport in North India.

‘Is there an ideal body type, for a Taekwondo fighter? Not really’, says Mitul. ‘The weight category you’re part of determines how much of an advantage you have, with respect to how your body is. In the heavier weight classes, short/stocky fighters are at a disadvantage because of their lack of reach, while in the lighter weight classes their power becomes a serious advantage.’

Stamina too is a focus while training, with all drills executed with the fighters’ heavy pads on (to build their stamina) and alternate-Sunday trips to Pahadi with members running up the hill.

The team has been riddled with injuries over the weeks leading up to BOSM including a medal hope who dislocated her knee during a fight, and a fighter who cut his feet over the course of another fight.

‘I guess they just are a part-and-parcel of every sport, injuries like this’ Mitul shrugs. ‘It is a little dangerous, but if you have the passion for it, you wouldn’t be content doing anything else.’