As the sun sets behind them, 14 year old C V Pooja and 19 year old S Nivetha stand facing each other, armed with sticks. They are ready to perform kambadi padam , a form of silambam at the D1 Police Boys and Girls Club, Puliyakulam. Nivetha gracefully defends herself with a stick when Pooja makes a move. Gradually the speed of their movement increases and all one can hear is the sound of the fast moving sticks striking each other. These are two among the eight students of Silambalaya Sports and Welfare Trust who represented our country and won medals at the recently held Ist Silambam World Cup at Keda, Malaysia. The team won a total of 19 medals — eight gold, three silver and eight bronze medals.
The team
Nivetha is doing her under graduation at Botany from PSGR Krishnammal College For Women. She won three medals — a gold for madavu , silver for stick fight and bronze for kambadi padam . “I started learning silambam when I was in Class VI. Although I did not like it initially, with time I was drawn to it. I remember developing body pain when I started, but I got over it in two weeks. I think it has made me more disciplined and flexible. My achievement at Malaysia has increased my confidence and helped me realise that I am actually good at it,” she says. The students train under P Selvakumar who works as a supporting staff at PSG College of Technology. “Silambam was traditionally used in war in our state. Teaching silambam was an offence during the British reign. Later it lost its popularity and was mostly performed in festivals. But now many people are practising it for fitness. In 2008, the state government introduced it as part of school games, and that has helped to make it popular among the youth,” he says.
At a training session
The Silambam World Cup event had four categories according to age and had around 350 participants from Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Nepal, Bhutan and Vietnam. “It was a tough match. But I observed that contestants from our country have better techniques than others,” says 23-year-old Saran Raj who won a gold in madivu and bronze medals for stick fight and kambadi padam . “Madivu is traditionally performed using deer horns. Now we use it’s replica made in metal. The postures, timing, techniques and the grace with which we move are important,” he says.
- P Selvakumar has been teaching silambam for free of cost for the past eight years.
- Currently, he has 200 students from age four to 80.
- His sessions are from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm
- @ Silambalaya Sports and Welfare Trust,1, Red Fields Rd, Red Fields, Puliakulam
- Call 9443118510 for details
All the contestant have earlier participated in the national Silambam Championship held at Tiruchengode, South Asian Championship held at Kanyakumari and The Asian Championship at Nagercoil, earlier this year. “All these experiences have prepared them for the World Cup. This is the biggest tournament for silambam,” says Selvakumar. The team practised regularly for the past four months for the event.
“We had regular sessions comprising of 30 minutes of warm up and two hours of practice. This requires a lot of stamina and concentration. A slip of judgement during the performance can be dangerous. It is important to train under supervision,” says Selvakumar.
