Coimbatore: Beaming expectant faces of the Karate Association awaited their local boy at the Coimbatore Railway station.
Coimbatore: Beaming expectant faces of the Karate Association awaited their local boy at the Coimbatore Railway station.
On his return to the city after a successful international tournament, Gopi was greeted by the Association and his family for his commendable achievement in the international karate arena. G Gopi Krishna studying B.Com (Finance) at Coimbatore's Dr. NGP College marked his presence at the 9th World Shitoryu-Karatedo International Championships held at Japan by bagging a bronze medal in the championship.
Gopi is the son of Ganesh, an auto driver in the city and represented India in the Shitoryu Karate Championship in the Under 60 kilograms category for 18-20 years men which was organised by the World Shitoryu-Karatedo federation. Earlier in August, Gopi took part in the All India Shitoryu Karatedo Championships and bagged a gold medal which qualified him to participate in the world championship at Japan.
He had secured around 30 medals in the district, state and national championships.
Gopi has been training under P K Kathiresan at the World Shitoryu-Karatedo India in Coimbatore since 2004 and it had taken 15 long years of hard work to achieve international recognition in his favourite sport. Speaking to the media, Gopi said, "Winning a gold medal for India at the Olympics is my ultimate aim in sports.
I have faced many struggles in my career and I am working hard for Olympics 2020." He also added that his Master, Kathiresan had put in a lot of hard work in moulding him into a good sportsperson and thanked him for the support he had been given for the past 15 years.