V Anitha from Chennai won gold in the individual kata category at the All India Karate Championship in Vatakara, Keralam, recently, while she was seven months pregnant.
The two-day championship, conducted by the Alan Thilak Karate School International, featured more than 1,500 participants across different categories. The Keralam team won the overall championship, while Tamil Nadu finished second.
For Anitha, however, the medal represents more than a competition victory. It is another milestone in a journey that has taken her from school-level karate competitions to the corporate world and eventually to a career in martial arts and self-defence.
Family support
Anitha decided to compete during pregnancy with the support of her family. Her husband, Prithiviraj, stood by her decision to continue with karate and her competition journey.
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For Anitha, karate has been part of her life since childhood. She began learning the sport in Class 3 and competed as a school student, winning several prizes.
When she reached Class 10, she faced opposition from her family over her decision to continue karate. But Anitha stayed with her training and eventually convinced her family to support her passion.
From corporate life
Anitha completed her B.Com from Chennai’s Justice Basheer Ahmed Sayeed College for Women and later worked with Larsen & Toubro and other corporate organisations.
Even while building her corporate career, karate remained a constant part of her life. Eventually, she made a conscious decision to leave her corporate career and make karate her profession and purpose.
Today, Anitha is a 5th Dan Black Belt (master level), karate master and self-defence coach, training women, school and college students.
Beyond the medal
For Anitha, learning karate was also about turning concern over crimes against women into something more practical.
“You have heard about rape cases and sexual assault cases. All these things at the time of WhatsApp and Instagram, what people did was they used to change the DP; the profile picture would be changed to black,” Anitha said.
“Changing DP doesn’t give any support, doesn’t make a girl very strong.”
She said her focus is on helping women become stronger rather than limiting support to symbolic gestures.
“I didn’t change my DP, but still I’m changing the mentality of the women outside the world and I’m helping out people to come out of it,” she said.
Anitha also linked her decision to make karate her profession with her approach to health and fitness, saying that she wanted to move away from a sedentary lifestyle and use what she had learned to help others.
A long mentorship
Behind Anitha’s journey is her mentor, Hanshi A. Appuraj, an 8th Dan Black Belt (advanced grandmaster rank) and national champion. He has trained Anitha for more than 22 years and has more than four decades of experience in karate.
Appuraj has trained more than 10,000 students, while Anitha has gone on to win medals at district, state and national-level competitions. She has also been a Thiruvallur district women’s champion for more than 10 years.
Today, her focus goes beyond winning competitions. She wants to use her experience to help more women become confident and better prepared to protect themselves.
Building confidence
Anitha’s work now includes martial arts, self-defence and personal safety training for women and young students.
“Mentally, a woman should be strong. Physically, a woman should be healthier, or she can be able to be strong enough to make sure what she thinks,” she said.
She believes physical training alone is not enough and that mental and emotional preparation are also important when teaching women to deal with difficult situations.
“Directly, if I go and teach a person to fight or something, she can’t do it physically. I have to change her mentally, I have to change her emotionally, I have to make her strong,” Anitha said.
She conducts regular sessions and online courses as part of that effort, describing her mission as empowering more girls and women.
From a schoolgirl who fought to continue karate, to a corporate professional who eventually chose her passion, and now a seventh-month pregnant athlete standing on a national championship podium, Anitha’s journey spans more than two decades.
For her, the gold medal is another step in a journey built around discipline, passion, and a continued commitment to fitness and strength through different stages of life.
(Disclaimer: Consult your physician before attempting any high-impact sports or martial arts during pregnancy. The video below depicts athletic feats for informational purposes and should not be imitated without professional medical clearance.)