Coimbatore :

Khainul Bin Abdullah, a Class 8 student at Melaka in Malaysia, has been learning martial art forms that originated in Tamil Nadu, for the last three years including ‘suvadu’ and ‘mallu sandai’.

He began learning this after seeing his elder brother learn them. Now he has become an expert in these forms and attends competitions in many parts of the world. Abdulllah was one of the participants at the Asian level Adithada Competition held at the Rathinam Group of Institutions at Eachanari near Coimbatore on Saturday and Sunday.

“Several people from across the world are coming to learn ‘adithada’, which includes many of our traditional forms like ‘suvadu’, ‘verum kai por’, ‘mallu sandai’ and various other traditional martial arts,” said Kalari P Selvaraj, general secretary of World Adithada Federation. These forms are collectively called ‘Adithada’. They were practised by Tamil expatriates and have gained a huge following abroad.

A few years ago they formed World Adithada Federation to popularise the forms. “We are hopeful that one day this art will be recognised by the Olympic Games committee as some Chinese and Japanese martial arts are,” said Selvaraj. However, they are yet to receive recognition from the Indian government.

Adithada was recognised by the Malaysian government as a sports event two years ago. Now there are around 1,000 people learning this.

“Many schools have included this as one of their extra-curricular activities,” said R Damodharan, a trainer from Malaysia. Excelling in the sport will help students going for higher education, he said.

Apart from Malaysia, participants have also come from Singapore and Bangladesh to take part in the event. Neethan Islamudheen, a martial arts trainer in Dhaka, said that there was a growing interest in the form in his country. He began to learn ‘adithada’ after a few trainers from the federation held a seminar in Dhaka a year ago.

“Many of those who are learning other martial arts are showing interest in it. This is because we find it has more traditional movements,” he said.

The organisers say they have to popularise the sport in various countries and get recognition in at least 90 countries to get entry in Olympics.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home>City> Coimbatore / TNN / June 09th, 2014