City girl bags two medals at kickboxing tourney
24-year-old city girl, Komal Devi, clinched silver and bronze medals at the National Kickboxing Championship 2024 (seniors and masters) in the 50 kg category under Kick Light and Point fighting events, held at Mapusa, Goa, from July 24 to July 28.
24-year-old city girl, Komal Devi, clinched silver and bronze medals at the National Kickboxing Championship 2024 (seniors and masters) in the 50 kg category under Kick Light and Point fighting events, held at Mapusa, Goa, from July 24 to July 28.
A yoga and a personal fitness trainer, Komal, has now been selected for the international camp which is going to be organised in West Bengal, after which trials will be conducted and a player from each weight category will be selected to represent the country at the World Kickboxing Championship in the United States of America.
Komal, who completed her bachelor’s in physical education last year, is also a national level taekwondo player. She participated in the senior national taekwondo championship held in Puducherry, in February last year. She informed that she bagged gold in Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan in the year 2022 and 2023 in the kick light event.
“I was always interested in sports and learning self-defense, but financial constraints kept me away from the games. It was in 2016 that I joined the formal training for taekwondo as I saw a few of my school students practicing the sport. Armaan Ali has been my coach since the very beginning and I have also trained young players,” she informed. She added that she takes inspiration from her coach and her sister Shanti Devi, who is also a state level kickboxing and taekwondo player.
Komal lives with her maternal grandparents, her grandfather is a private patient caretaker, and her grandmother is a masseuse. “I could not even think of travelling abroad or even across the nation for various tournaments due to financial constraints, which is why I have now started giving fitness coaching so that I can arrange my travel expenses along with entry fees for tournaments,” she said.
Disappointed with the lack of support from the state government, Komal said, “The Haryana government had announced numerous cash prizes for the players who represent the state at national and international level, but lack of support from the Punjab government has forced many to either quit the game or move abroad.”