Chennai, 7th Dec 2021: 
Post-Covid cause for cheer as 16 year old Tarush Ramdas became the youngest Aikido black belt in India at an internationally supervised grading event held at Aikido of Chennai’s new center off ECR. The 11 std student at KC High has been training in this Japanese martial art since he was 8 years old and was part of the Chennai team at the World Aikido seminar held in Varanasi in 2020. Juggling school and COVID restrictions to practice Tarush has achieved this creditable feat that is normally done by young adults in college or older. “Tarush has a good sense of balance and self awareness that are important in this samurai martial art” says Ela, the senior sensei. Ela sensei, a 3rd degree black belt in Aikido, has spent months training as an instructor at Aikido world headquarters in Tokyo, Japan – a rare honour for practitioners from India.

Aikido is a devastating martial art that was used by unarmed masters against samurai with armour and swords. Primarily used for self-defence these days, it is taught to police and army special forces around the world. Ulaganayagan Kamal Hasan has featured Aikido in his movie Dasavatharam and Hollywood star Steven Seagal was a grandmaster of Aikido. Kids from age 6 to 60+ can participate and learn valuable life skills while building on physical fitness.