CHENNAI: Practicing silambam has made me strong,” says 20-year-old Kowshik Palanisamy, who won the gold medal at the third World Silambam Championship, held in China this week.Hailing from Vellankoil, a village in Erode district, Kowshik has been practicing the sport for 10 years. “My uncle is an entrepreneur and also knows silambam. So, I grew up watching him. He is my guru and taught me whatever I know today. Currently, I don’t have an official mentor. I have been training by myself,” shares the engineering student from Anna University.
After competing and winning several district tournaments through the Open Silambam Federation, he participated in state and national level tournaments and won them all. “All these wins led me to the South Asian Silambam championship in 2017. I won that as well, and it paved the way for me to enter the world championship,” beams Kowshik who competed against 11 countries including Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Russia and Israel, in the 60-70 kg category.
“The final round was a duel with a participant from China. It was a very close match but, I learnt a lot! For the practitioners from other countries, silambam is just any other sport; they didn’t know much about its traditional roots. But, for me it’s more than a sport and my roots go back to the art-cum-sports form!” he adds.
His father, a tailor, is the sole breadwinner of the family and Kowshik says that it’s his responsibility to be in the vanguard and help his family settle. “My mother is a homemaker and I have a sister who has just entered college. Silambam is my passion and winning this world championship was very important for me. I need to achieve more to ensure a secured future for my family,” he says, rooting for his win in upcoming championships.
With no sponsors, his journey to the world championship wasn’t a smooth ride but, Kowshik is optimistic that the future will look better. “The money I won in the South Asian championship aided in going to the world championship. But, having a sponsor would definitely help me a lot,” says the youngster who conducts silambam classes at Anna University. “I train about 70 students and the classes are conducted officially in the University.”
Ask him about his training methods and diet, he laughs and says, Nalla sapadanum (should eat well). “I had to maintain my weight. Apart from that, I can eat anything. I have classes in college till 4.40 pm. I train from 5.30 pm to 8 pm, along with my students at Anna University. When I train them, I train myself too. After that, I go to the ground near my house at 10 pm and practice until 1 am. During exams, I adjust my schedule accordingly. It’s tough to balance both studies and my passion. But, I manage,” he shrugs.
His family has been a pillar of support. “But, I cannot stop with that. I need to push myself harder to achieve more and take the art form to the nook-and-corner of the world!” he smiles.