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FULL CONTACT
by PRERANA MARASINI
| FROM ISSUE # 134 (February 2007) | IN THIS ISSUE | |||
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Twenty-year-old Sumitra Napit has played Kyokushin karate for almost as long as she can remember. Her father first sent her off to Dasrath Rangashala for lessons at the tender age of six. "He wanted me to be fit," says Sumitra. He probably got more than he'd bargained for; a decade and a half later, Sumitra is a promising new star on the Nepali karate circuit. 
Sumitra's most recent victory was at the 1st Ladies Open Full Contact Karate Tournament, held in Kathmandu on 14 January. Winning isn't new for Napit. "I was in grade six when I won the Best Fighter award at the 2nd National Games in Biratnagar," she says. The rest is history. She's now Nepal's top female Kyokushin karate player, with five golds from six national games she's played in.
Sumitra wants to continue with karate, and has set herself a goal: to go to the World Championships. She thinks her kicks are powerful, but wants to improve her overall technique. She trains two hours each day, covering all the costs herself with jobs teaching karate and swimming—she doesn't even have a coach. Although the National Sports Council has 162 martial arts coaches, there isn't one for Kyokushin karate, which involves rigorous combat without safety gear. "I wish the government would give us more facilities and send us to participate in international tournaments so we could improve," she says. She also hopes more women join the sport; right now there are six females on the national team, but 12 men.
Still, Sumitra's determination to succeed is fierce, and she's a force to be reckoned with. She doesn't like the fact that some of her female opponents come and try to make agreements to go easy on each other before a match. She's equally fiery out of the ring, and laughs as she admits that on one of the shopping trips she gave a few men who tried to get fresh with her and her sisters a demonstration of just what she can do. "I just couldn't tolerate their teasing," she says. With talent, training, and loads of attitude, Sumitra is definitely one to watch.