BENGALURU: A city-based kickboxer, personal trainer and fighter Girish R Gowda recently won the gold medal at the WAKO India Cadet and Junior National Kickboxing Championship 2016-2017 and Federation Cup Senior National, which was held at the Talkatora stadium in New Delhi.
The 31-year-old took to fighting to take revenge from a politician. Girish recalls, “I was working as a delivery boy and on my way back home with my friends, a banner flew and got stuck under my feet. I gave the banner back and apologised to the man, but he gave me a tight slap. I was crying all the way to home. My friends suggested that I should go and fight that man, but I refused thinking about my family’s safety. A couple of days later, I decided to learn self-defense.”
He started learning boxing at Kanteerava stadium. “My mother got to know about it. She was scared and asked me to pledge that I wouldn’t continue boxing. So, I switched to karate without telling her,” he says.Girish started taking classes from Krishna M, a five-time black belt in karate. “I did not tell him about my revenge plan. He wouldn’t have taught me otherwise,” he adds.
Along with the karate techniques, Girish says he learned discipline. After two years of rigorous training, he went up to the politician to beat him up. “But when I saw him, I didn’t feel like hitting him. I left karate afterwards as I had no reason to learn anymore. I then thought of representing the state and country and started participating in various tournaments and championships,” he says.
Girish’s coach suggested him kickboxing. He won his first national championship in 2011.
During one of the tournaments, he happened to meet Karan Singh Vyas, a ring referee and was inspired by him. “I wanted to experience at least one ring fight. So, I took up Muay Thai, a combat sport from Thailand, in 2011.”
Girish then worked as a fitness instructor at a private gym. He was introduced to XMA by a client and started learning the martial art. In 2015, he participated in WAKO Asian Championship through Karnataka Kickboxing Association and won a silver medal in the K1 fight.
Girish has won nine medals - three gold, two silver and four bronze at the state level, one silver at the Asian championship.
“I cried at the world championship when I heard the national anthem of other countries. I want to go to Thailand to learn the advanced level of martial arts.”
In December 2015, he quit his job at the gym and started working as a trainer at another fitness studio.
He couldn’t continue his studies after class 10 due to financial constraints. “My father passed away when I was 12. I have four older sisters. We worked to earn a living. I learned to weld after my class 10. I would work as a mechanic in the morning and go to welding classes in the evening. About a decade ago, I stopped welding and started working as a delivery man. That’s when I got into self-defence.”
Training and diet can be very expensive. He has been receiving financial aid from his clients. “I need financial support for the upcoming world championship. The government does not help with finances,” he says.
His mother is now used to seeing his broken shoulders and scars on his face. “She’s happy now. She asks how badly I am injured and keeps the first aid ready,” he smiles.