Most men his age are busy climbing the corporate ladder, but Abhishek Yadav, 28, is more interested in training women in self-defense.
This man from Lucknow has also devised a new technique that combines Japanese martial art forms of aikido and karate with kickboxing, which he teaches under the course, Meri Raksha Mere Haathon Mein, free of cost. It is a week-long programme consisting of 40 moves; each having the capacity to pin down the opponent or enemy.
“These moves are simple, but effective enough to fight-off and save yourself from a harasser. Any girl over age 11 can learn these. Today, it is very important for girls to be equipped with handling themselves,” he says in a concerned tone.
Yadav has made this his life’s mission, for which he keeps travelling the length and breadth of India. So far, he has trained over 1.5 lakh girls and women in self-defense.
Recognising his efforts in 2015, the UP government bestowed him with the state’s highest civilian award – the Yash Bharatiya Award – making him the youngest recipient as well.
The award entailed him Rs 11 lakh as one-time payment and Rs 50,000 as monthly pension – which he, which he, in turn, uses to hold camps for girls and women.
In 2016, Yadav made it to the Limca Book of Records by training 5,700 girl students at one go, mostly from rural areas, in self-defence techniques at Kunda in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
He is now working towards creating a Guinness World Record by holding a camp in Mumbai for 21,000 girls before the year ends. “It is only self-empowered women who can make the society strong and rid it from social evils.”
But it’s not just young girls he trains. He has held self-defence training camps for many 60-plus women from corporates and other organisations. Yadav, who earlier held a camp at DPS RK Puram, New Delhi, says, “Talks are now on with the Delhi government to hold training camps for girl students from government schools.”
What kick-started the passion?
Yadav started learning karate at 10 while studying at Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Vidyalaya, Mohanapur in Gorakhpur, UP. In 2004, he earned a black belt. “I won many karate competitions, both intra-school and inter-school, which deepened my interest in martial arts.”
Exploring further, Yadav came in contact with few commandos of the Gorkha Regiment Unit located near his school and requested them to teach him some of their moves. And they did. Yadav kept on learning other martial art forms like kickboxing and aikido.
In 2007, Yadav organised the first training camp for girls in Gorakhpur. Soon his popularity grew and various schools invited him for holding such camps for their students. One such request even came from the Gorakhpur police force.
Yadav had been fulfilling these commitments as and when they came by. Then the 2012 Nirbhaya case happened and that jolted him.
“It was then that I realised the urgency of the situation. I felt each girl needed to be taught self-defence and should be able to protect herself.” He then set up Abhiself Protection Trust and decided to go the whole hog into self-defence. He is now planning to open his own academy to teach self-defence techniques.