KOCHI: Noushad A and Shajina are a martial arts couple who have been teaching karate to school students for several years. The couple who have been travelling across the country for several national championships are now on cloud nine. ‘Kyo-shi’ Noushad, recently earned the seventh degree black belt, one among the few in India to do so. Apart from this, they have also received the rare opportunity to coach at the Greenfield Stadium at Kariavattom.
‘Shihan’ Shajina, is a fifth degree black belt holder. The couple have been running the New Indian Sports Academy, for 27 years.
From kalari to karate
For Noushad, it was kalari which paved the way for karate. He says,” I started learning the former along with Marmachikitsa when I was ten. A few years later, I started training in karate, which has since then awed me. It is how the form can be used for self defense which interested me.”
On the dream-come-true opportunity which they have received, he adds,”Though there are coaching facilities for sports like cricket, football, swimming, badminton and skating at the stadium, there have been no instructors for karate till now.
More than that, the decision to include Karate coaching is a part of the stadium authorities’ initiative. However, we will be coaching students under the name of our academy.”
It was earning the 7th degree black belt title which was the icing on the cake for Noushad. He says, “I have always dreamed of getting it, as there are only a few in India who has the title.”
Learning karate after marriage
‘While the fascination for karate started from a young age for Noushad, his wife Shahina started learning the martial arts after marriage. She too shares the same passion. Says Shajina, “ Though we got an opportunity to participate in a world championship tourney at Mexico, we couldn’t go.
There is another world championship coming up at Philippines for which we will be going most probably,”According to Noushad, the duo was selected for a number of state-level and national-level tournaments in which the academy has participated as well as the trophies earned.
About their academy, Noushad says, “Though we had been teaching the martial art for long, it has just been recently that the academy was given the name.” The New Indian Sports Academy had participated in the National-level Karate tournaments held during 2015,2016 and this year at Calicut, Visakhapatnam and Bangalore respectively, becoming one of the winning teams in each of the tournaments.
The Academy had also taken part in the students olympics at Pondicherry in 2015. The centre now has around 500 students starting from the age of six.