Meet extraordinaire neurosurgeon who teaches Wushu
Source: Chronicle News Service / DIPR
Imphal, September 26 2023:
Meet Manipuri neurosurgeon, Dr Mayanglambam Amitkumar, who teaches Wushu in a quiet corner in Imphal East district, an extraordinary task to promote the game in the state.
Driven by his deep childhood attachment with the game, Amitkumar cannot leave this electrifying Chinese martial art till date.
The bottom-line of his enduring tendency is that presently he imparts training to around 50 children.
Amitkumar, who has achieved best player titles and bagged hordes of laurels at several national Wushu championships, is the first Indian to score above 9:00 points (9:20) in international Wushu competition at 3rd World Wushu Championships held in Baltimore, USA in 1995, a record he maintained till 2011.A resident of Brahmapur Nahabam Bamon Leikai in Imphal East district, Amitkumar is a consultant neurosurgeon at the state-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Porompat.
After his day's medical work at the hospital, he puts on his tracksuit, moves directly to Wangkhei area where he trains the children, including girls, at a community hall before going back to his residence in the evening.
Amitkumar, who also checks and treats patients in the morning, has been imparting Wushu lessons to children in the state from time to time since 1991 .
"Medical is my profession and Wushu is my passion and way of life as I have been associated with the game since I was in 3rd standard.
I will continue to play and train children in Wushu till my health permits", a soft-spoken Amitkumar said on Tuesday.
What is amazing in his Wushu journey is Amitkumar learnt the beautiful game from his father Mayanglambam Biramani Singh, a Wushu exponent who has a short age gap of just 20 years between the father-son duo.
His younger brother Sachidananda and their youngest sister Usharani are also renowned Wushu champions of international repute with Amitkumar's family being popularly known as "Wushu family".
Notably, Sachidananda is currently associated as technical official in the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
A retired state government employee, Biramani was a Budokan Karate exponent before switching over to Wushu in 1990 after he learnt the game from Master Chin, the Wushu chief coach of Malaysia at the behest of Grand Master of Bu-dokan Karate Chew Choo Soot at his Kaula Lumpur residence.
Under Biramani's initiative, the formal Wushu movement started in Manipur.
"I began learning Wushu from my father when I was a young kid.
When my father moved out for his office, I learnt the theoretical part of the game at home, and again practiced together with him after he returned home, " Amitkumar said.
Before switching to JNIMS, Amitkumar was a major in the Indian Army for five years in the military's Short Service Commission during which he helped establish and also worked additionally for a few years as in-charge of "Army Wushu Node", giving Wushu training to army players in Shillong in 2005.Besides saving many lives as a doctor, Amitkumar has also produced various national and international Wushu medal winners.
Among the shining athletes include L Sanatombi Devi, M Gyandash Singh and M Punshiva Meitei who have clinched a bunch of gold medals at several international competitions.
Amitkumar did his MBBS from RIMS Imphal in 2001, MS (General Surgery) from AFMC, Pune, Maharashtra in 2013 and MCh (Neurosurgery) from AIIMS, New Delhi in 2018.He participated at the 1st, 3rd and 7th World Wushu Championships in Beijing (1991), Baltimore (1995) and Macau (2003) respectively.
In his youthful days, he bagged three gold medals each and was bestowed with best player titles at the 4th and 5th National Wushu Championships held in Hyderabad in 1992 and Lucknow in 1993 respectively.
He also won a gold medal each at the 2nd and 12th National Wushu Championships held in 1991 in Kolkata and in 2003 in Chennai respectively and two gold medals at 6th National Wushu Championships 1995 in Aizawl.
About the Wushu training unit in Imphal, Amitkumar mentioned that there are three/four coaches apart from him.
"For paying their (coaches) monthly remunerations, we charge minimal fees from the students, and on top of that, I also contribute Rs 25,000 from my side in the fund pool for distributing the pay", he said.