Young champ’s Olympic dream: Dimple Surapaneni

The 18-year-old, Dimple Surapaneni, from Vijayawada, recently represented India in the US Open and Junior International Karate Cup 2018 held at Las Vegas, USA, where she won three gold medals and one silver. She was also a part of the winning team Kata and Kumite. She was in Hyderabad with her coach Keerthan Kondru to speak to the media.  

The promising young Karate Champion who has won several championships both National and International in the past said that learning Karate became her passion at the age of seven when she had first attended karate classes conducted in her school. 

She had won the Karate Shodan at the age of 13 and won a gold medal at the Silent Knight International Karate Cup, Malaysia.  Along with being a passionate Karate exponent, she is also brilliant in her academics. 

She is now pursuing B.E, Computer Science (1st year) from Andhra Loyola Institute of Engineering and Technology (ALIET), Vijayawada. “I give equal importance to both academics and Karate. I want to excel in both and give time accordingly,” she said.

“I was always exposed to critics that discouraged me from becoming a champion. I was repeatedly told to avoid learning Karate as it is a boy sport, and many had claimed that the sport doesn’t fit me because I am hefty. But, I gave a deaf ear to all such comments and turned to be a champion with support of my parents and self-confidence,” she added.

Earlier, she had learned the martial arts from Ramakrishna and Venkateswar Rao and is now training under Keerthan Kondru, the national coach. She revealed her dream to represent India at Olympics and to join Indian Public Service (IPS). “I am striving hard to reach the standards to win Olympic medal and to clear civil services exam,” she shared.

On witnessing growing incidents of sexual abuse of girls, she pointed out, “Karate is not just a sport. It is an instrument for a girl to defend herself against those who try to abuse or cause physical harm to her.”