Hyderabad athlete Sai Deepak B heads to UK, US for Taekwondo world championship

As a child, when Sai Deepak used to watch the Bruce Lee-starrer Enter The Dragon and Jackie Chan’s Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow with his father, he was totally entranced by the energetic martial arts routines in them. The little kid, gazing up at the television had no clue that, as a 23-year-old, he’d be the country’s youngest person to hold three individual Guinness World Records.

The fascination of this Taekwondo artist with Guinness World Records started two years ago. On November 26, 2017, Sai Deepak was awarded a record for ‘most full-contact elbow strikes with alternate elbows in one minute’ at a count of 142. The next record on December 24 2017 was ‘most full-contact knee strikes in three minutes’ at a count of 175. The most recent one awarded on August 30 2019, is ‘most one leg full-contact knee strikes wearing five-kilogram ankle weights in three minutes’ and the count there is 87. He adds, “I dedicated this record to the slain soldiers and to also promote Fit India Movement.”

One would assume the Taekwondo community would be more introverted and not too enthralled about Guinness World Records but Sai Deepak says otherwise. “When I got my certification at Kukkiwon, they were very impressed with how I’ve been promoting the sport as well. That moment meant a lot to me... I mean, I would die for martial arts!”

Sai Deepak has had quite the journey to get to this point. “In II std, I started with karate. Then in 2008, I saw Abhinav Bhindra getting a gold medal for India at the Beijing Olympics for professional shooting. I actually didn’t know that Taekwondo is the only martial arts at the Olympics until my B.Tech counselling. My previous certificates in karate were rejected by the counsellors. They only took my State bronze medal into account. That’s when I started doing Taekwondo, really,” he recalls.

Compared to other forms of martial arts, Sai Deepak realised that the discipline in Taekwondo – which originates in Korea – is in a field of its own, largely because of poomsae , a defined pattern of defense-and-attack motions which requires intense amounts of focus and dedication. “After undergoing a good and thorough training, the ferocity in you will actually make you calm and centred.”

He chuckles sheepishly before adding, “I used to be very notorious back in the day. So the training had a very personal effect on me.” Practise for Sai Deepak is predictably everyday with two or three hours in the mornings, with much of it dedicated to poomsae .

How do Sai Deepak’s family and friends feel about his route into martial arts professionally? While his friends think it is incredibly cool, his family are not entirely happy because of the injuries that are natural with the sport.

“You can just watch videos of the knockouts in the sport so it is scary for loved ones,” he admits. He has, of course, sustained injuries including dislocated shoulders and knees.

Forever thankful

Sai Deepak B from Hyderabad doing ‘poomsae’, fighting stances in Taekwondo

He is grateful to his Grandmaster M Jayanth Reddy of five years, who has 29 Guinness World Records and was also awarded five Presidential Sports Awards by George Bush Sr and Bill Clinton. Sai Deepak is also thankful to Master Moinuddin and his mentor Ashish Taneja who runs Infinio Taekwondo World, the Taekwondo academy where Sai Deepak trains.

But talk international role models and he mentions Jordanian athlete Ahmad Abughaush, who won the gold medal in the 68-kilogram category at the 2016 Olympics.

Sai Deepak got a ‘black belt Dan 2’ in March 2017 which is a requirement to enter international competitions. He also earned his official certificate at Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarters, Korea).

In fact, later this month Sai Deepak will be heading to the British Open Taekwondo Championship in Manchester, England and in February, he’ll be competing at the US World Open Taekwondo Championship in Oregon. At the moment, Sai Deepak is on the lookout for sponsors who will back him on his journey to the Olympics.