Several incidents and studies have time and again proved that Delhi is unsafe for women. While Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal feels installing streetlights will help make city safer, young Wushu champion Puja Tomar, 25, believes training girls and women in self-defence is the precise modus operandi.
Tomar recently held a two-hour self-defence session at UFC Gym in Punjabi Bagh and taught self-protection techniques to 15 female participants.
“If the government can’t take stern steps to ensure our safety, we can do our bit by learning self-defence. We should force men to think twice before teasing or harassing a woman,” adds Tomar, who is nicknamed, ‘The Cyclone’.
The five-time national professional Wushu champion does self training at Delhi Martial Art Academy and works as a professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and fitness trainer at the gym. She feels that in India, there’s least focus on making women self dependent in protecting herself in an attack.
“We need to teach women kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ). You can use BJJ chokes and locks to make the attacker fall, faint and even cause fractures.”
Tomar doles out a few techniques every woman should know:
About the difference between Wushu, BJJ, and MMA, Tomar, who has fractured her nose thrice, says, “In Wushu, we have kick, punch and take down, while BJJ has locks and chokes, while MMA includes all martial art forms and is like a road fight with no rules.”
Front attack: You can use push or kick to make the attacker fall as this gives you time to run. If the person is already too close, hold him by the neck and attack in the groin using the knee.
Attack from behind: You can use the hip throw technique – hold the upper body using under hook (locking the person’s neck wrapping your arm around it), and throw him to the ground. You can use back elbow attack to hurt him in the stomach. Or the Arm Bar takedown move. Hold the arm of the attacker, pull it, twist it, and throw him down.
Brush with martial arts:
Attending the karate class regularly at school motivated her to learn the game at age 10. She went on to learn taekwondo, judo and wushu. Tomar, who hails from Budhana in Uttar Pradesh, says, “I moved to Meerut, and won Wushu at national level.
Following which I got a call from Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bhopal. I played there on government scholarship. Then, I participated in Super Fight League and defeated a 58-kg girl, despite being just 48kg.”
Now she plays for ONE Championship organised by a Singapore-based company. Her dream is to open a martial arts academy in her village. “I want to represent India in under 52-kg Wushu at Asian Games in 2022.”