KOCHI: Ever heard of chessboxing? Most people are still oblivious to the existence of this hybrid sport which blends chess and boxing. But Manoj Madhav, a native of Sreekariyam in Thiruvananthapuram, has already mastered it.
Manoj became one of the few participants from the state to enter the National Chessboxing Championship held in Kolkata recently. He bagged gold in the senior men’s category. Manoj now has his eyes set on the World Chessboxing Championship that will be held abroad by end of this year.
Invented by Lepe Rubingh, a Dutch performance artist, the sport involves two competitors fighting in alternate rounds of chess and boxing. Popular in countries like Germany, the UK Russia and India, the sport has seen scarce representation from Kerala so far and Manoj is one of five players from the state to have ever participated in a championship.
Manoj was motivated by his his boxing coach Shanthanu V, Jagadeesh R Krishnan, who is the athletic coach at Kerala Sports Council and Justin Joseph, his chess coach. A practising advocate, Manoj is also pursuing a doctorate in Defence and Strategic Studies at Madras University.
“I used to box during my college days but had lost touch. After recovering from Covid, I thought of hitting the gym to be fit. I was introduced to the Brothers Boxing Academy and started practising boxing. This was when my coach, Shanthanu, told me about chessboxing and motivated me to give it a try,” says 38-year-old Manoj. “Since the age limit is 40 for boxing championships, I thought of learning chessboxing, which is interesting and challenging at the same time,” he says.
Chessboxing championship in India involves five rounds — three rounds of chess and two rounds of boxing. “Unlike boxing, chess was a hobby that I had kept aside for my free time. Since, 60 per cent of chessboxing involved chess, I had to train myself for it. I started training under Justin Joseph. It is difficult to coordinate the mind and body,” he says. More than 300 participants from different states participated in the national championship held in August.