Pain is temporary, pride is forever

Hyderabad-based 22-year-old Chiru Harsh Patnam bagged gold medal in Kumite (fight) in National Open Karate Championship 2019 held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

He credits his coach Vivek Teja Cherupalli for discovering his latent talent in Karate. "My coach made me realise that Karate is much more than self defence and is a way of living. The Japanese culture has beautifully moulded discipline, hard work, respect and tradition," he added.

Harsh did his schooling from Indus International School, Hyderabad, Degree from Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology (MJCET). Now he is helping his father in business apart from pursuing his dream.

Excerpts from his interview:

One challenge he faced during the tournament:

I was nervous before the fight. In order to get rid of that I contemplated on the efforts put by two of the greatest athletes of all times – Bruce Lee and Mike Tyson. Just before the match I watched Mike Tyson's videos on motivation and intimidation. The biggest challenge for any athlete is fear - fear of losing, fear of getting humiliated, fear of getting beaten up. The same fear fuelled the flame in me. My opponent from Delhi tried to knock me down in the final round. I didn't give up knowing pain is temporary but pride is forever. It's more about the psychology than physicality when it comes to these crunch moments.

His goal:

If you had asked me this one a couple of years ago, it'd be to finish that day's training session and get home without breaking my bones. For now, I want to keep giving karate my best effort and hope results to fall into my lap. I want to take it one step at a time — the method that has got me to this juncture. With the knowledge and blessings of my coach, I want to participate in more tournaments in near future.

His other activities:

Apart from Karate, I Love playing chess and video games. I'm into a lot of adventure sports like scuba diving, skydiving, river rafting, bungee jumping, jet skiing and cycling.