Karthik Reddy Arabandi from Tirupati has won gold in the 14-15-year age group category at the X Commonwealth Karate Championships held at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) recently.
The Class IX student struck gold while participating in the Kumite event in the -70 kg category. He was the lone participant to represent Andhra Pradesh in the 104-strong Indian contingent and won against players from South Africa, Scotland, England and Cyprus. Karthik’s father A. Chandrasekhar Reddy is an IRS officer and his mother A. Sirisha Reddy is a businesswoman.
In all, 1,800 players from the 22 Commonwealth countries participated in the event, which was conducted by the Commonwealth Games Federation. Though the championship should have been held in 2020, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be recalled that Karthik had already bagged a gold medal in the 12-13-year Boys Kumite – Team category at the U.S. Open 2022 in April this year.
Sports Karate-Do Association of Andhra Pradesh, the official body that governs the sport, is affiliated to the Karate India Organisation (KIO), which in turn is a member of the World Karate Federation. The association’s president K.M.L. Sastry and secretary-general Keerthan Kondru congratulated Karthik for his accomplishment.
Mr. Keerthan, who is also the Indian national team coach who mentored Karthik, sought support of the State’s sports authority, which has reportedly been glaringly absent in contrast with several other States that offered financial support to sports in general and Karate in particular. There is also a growing demand to include Karate in the national games, as it is already an Olympic sport.
