Take a bow

MARTIAL arts champion Dipshikha Baruah from Bahrain won the Best Referee title at the 33rd Fajr Cup International Taekwondo Championship, her latest tournament representing the kingdom as an international referee.

The Indian expatriate was appointed international referee for Bahrain in 2019 and, since 2022, has represented the country in 15 competitions across the world, including the WT President’s Cup Oceania in Australia, the Sofia World Taekwondo Cadet Championship in Bulgaria, and the Chuncheon Korea Open International Taekwondo Championship. Before that, there weren’t any matches due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was such a proud moment for me to represent Bahrain at the Fajr Cup this year, a place that I have called home since 2017,” the third dan taekwondo black belt holder told GulfWeekly.

“The tournament was so well-organised and everyone was co-operative, which made my experience even better. The female athletes exhibited such a powerful performance, and the many knockouts, and last-minute victories made the fights so interesting.”

In some martial art forms, ‘dan’ means ‘rank’. In taekwondo, a Korean martial arts form, third dan or sam dan fighters are considered ‘trained students’ who may serve as assistant instructors. There are a total of 10 dans, which takes decades to master.

Around the same time last year, Dipshikha was one of the candidates from Asia to be shortlisted by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games IR Selection and Training Camp.

“It was an honour to represent Bahrain at the camp, which was conducted in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Even though I didn’t get through to the final group, just being there among other fellow taekwondo fighters and instructors was such an educational experience for me,” the physical education teacher at The Indian School Bahrain said.

Growing up in Guwahati, a city in the Northeast Indian state of Assam, Dipshikha was always fascinated by martial arts. However, being a girl, it was difficult for her to convince her family to let her pursue it. Defying the odds, she began her training in kung fu, a Chinese martial arts form, and later moved to taekwondo at the age of 14.

“I always wanted to take my taekwondo career to the next level as I am passionate about it and so in 2019, I attended the World Taekwondo International Referee Training held in Australia and China. It was a challenging experience with exams but, in the end, I succeeded,” explained the certified World Taekwondo Level 2 International Coach.

Dipshikha, a research scholar of Physical Education, completed her degree in sports psychology from Lovely Professional University in the North Indian state of Punjab.

She laid the foundation of her career in her hometown of Guwahati before moving to Bahrain where she lives with her husband, Naba Kumar Das who works as a construction superintendent.

“I trained with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and, between 2008 and 2016, won nine gold medals at inter-college and inter-state level championships. I represented my state Assam at national level tournaments in 2010 and 2012, and India at an international level in 2010,” the Riffa resident, who used to be National Referee of India, added.

Speaking of plans for this year, Dipshikha highlighted that she doesn’t set goals where she needs to reach a certain level or attain a certain milestone. Instead, she goes with the flow in her desired direction and accepts the opportunities that come her way, giving it ‘every ounce of dedication’.

“Sports has always been a special part of my life. The discipline and whatever I have achieved in my life is because of sports. I encourage everyone to pursue some form of sport or activity regularly. We lead sedentary and often stressful lives and so, being active is important,” she added.

For more details, follow @dipshikkhabaruuah on Instagram.