in the recently concluded wako 2nd uzbekistan open international kickboxing tournament 2022 two youngsters from chennai have done the country proud while supraja vs a class 12 student won a gold and a silver ab vasekaran who has just completed his schooling bagged a silver and bronzea visibly thrilled supraja tells us that she forayed into kickboxing just two years ago i started kickboxing in 2020 to lose weight but then i slowly got interested in the sport though it was a hobby initially my mindset has changed completely i have now set my eyes on the upcoming world championshipsfor vasekaran who has been into kickboxing for seven years now it has been a satisfying journey i played my first international tournament in 2018 and this year i participated in two tatami events says the youngster who played his last tournament as a junior player at uzbekistan open international kickboxing tournament he won silver in the kick light 84kg event and a bronze in the light contact 84kg at the same tournament held in tashkent supraja too participated in two events light contact 70kg in which she won gold and kick light 70kg in which she settled for a silver in kick light i lost gold by one point and i was so dissatisfied when i learnt the margin by which i lost the second gold she ruesinterestingly supraja became the first woman to win gold from tamil nadu in kickboxing says her coach dr c suresh babu india won three gold six silver and six bronze medals in the tournament supraja is the first female kickboxer from the state to win gold the other two gold were won by a player monal kukreja from haryana out of the 15 medals four medals were won by players from tamil nadusupraja beams it was a proud moment when i found out that i was the first female kickboxer from the state to win a gold im a classical dancer and have been practising for 12 years now from dancer to a kickboxer it has been a big changefor vasekaran who incidentally won tamil nadu its first gold medal in kickboxing in the mens category in 2018 the journey to the two medals he bagged at this tournament was not an easy one just before the training camp i fell down while running and fractured my wrist though i couldnt train i went for the camp to observe and learn as much as i could it helped me prepare mentally i recovered before the tournament it hurt only when i put pressure on my wrist i feel i wouldve won gold if not for the injury he sayssupraja says this tournament was a learning experience this was the first time i was travelling alone once there we were faced with language barrier and we had to communicate through signs and gestures also the players we faced were more skilled and the fight was very tough this was my