For 11-year-old S. Akshay Kannan, son of an autorickshaw driver from S. Alangulam here, the interest in karate started when he first met his coach K. Shanmugavel during a training session in his school nearly four years ago.
“I had been called for a karate coaching session by his school. Akshay clearly stood out from other children as he could quickly grasp and repeat the moves,” Mr. Shanmugavel said.
“When I asked him whether he was interested in joining my training centre, he immediately nodded,” he said.
Since then, Akshay had gone on to win tens of medals not only in karate but also in silambam . “He was interested. So we encouraged him to pursue it,” V. Seenivasan, Akshay’s father, said.
When asked what got him hooked to karate, Akshay, whose ambition is to join Indian Police Service (IPS), said there was nothing specific. “I just feel happy doing it. So I want to keep doing it,” he quipped.
Mr. Shanmugavel said Akshay was so talented that he entrusted him with coaching other boys, who were even senior to him, in his absence.
Proudly showing the sheaf of certificates Akshay had won in various tournaments, Mr. Seenivasan said that the family wanted to encourage him to participate in more competitions.
The stumbling block, however, was the financial situation of the family. “We have put both my sons in matriculation schools as we wanted to provide them the best education. Attending competitions also cost us a lot, which often becomes difficult with the money I make,” Mr. Seenivasan said.
Akshay’s mother Raja Rajeswari said that when they approached government officials, their solution was to put the children in government schools. “From their point of view, it is right. However, we don’t want to do that as the children also prefer it this way. All we need is some assistance for their education,” she said.
