Brothers from Tirupati excel in fencing

Tirupati: Though fencing is an Olympic game, it has not achieved due recognition in India. In Andhra Pradesh too, there were not even trainers in many districts. This has not stopped the two brothers Nithin Krishna (10th class) and Nikhil Krishna (6th class) of Tirupati from excelling in the rare sport.

They proved themselves by participating in statewide tournaments and winning medals. Recently, Nikhil won silver medal in the state-level under-14 school games held at Narasaraopet in Guntur district. This was his first tournament and by winning a silver medal he made his parents proud.

Highlights:

• Nikhil Krishna, younger of the two, won silver medal in the state-level under-14 tourney held recently at Narasaraopet
• Nithin Krishna won five medals including a bronze at the national event in Kerala in the first week of September 2017

Now, he sets his goal on participating in national events and return with gold medal. Needless to say, that there were no coaches in Chittoor district. Then how Nikhil could exhibit his talent which rewarded him suitably? For this, he replied, he got inspiration from his elder brother Nithin Krishna, who was already involved in the game. It was their mother Sailaja, who first proposed Nithin to play fencing with another boy.

They came to know that a coach was available in Nandyal in Kurnool district. Nithin’s father K Radhakrishna was reluctant initially as he feared that his son may get injured with that game. But, his wife was bold enough and convinced him. They approached the coaches Mahesh, Lakshman and Chandu at Nandyal and took all pains in asking them to come over to Tirupati weekly once to train their son. Along with Nithin, his friends Rahul and Dheeraj also started learning the tips of the game. When the coach could not come to Tirupati, these three boys used to go to Nandyal.

Nithin participated in three state-level championships at Guntur, Sattenapalli and Proddutur and three national-level school game championships at Bhopal, Karimnagar and Kerala. He also participated in several other events at different levels. So far, he won five medals including one bronze which he won at the national event in Kerala earlier this month. By seeing his brother’s achievements, Nikhil got inspired and decided to play fencing only.

Naturally, Nithin became the coach for Nikhil which has yielded good result in the very first tournament he participated. They said that Vasu, the correspondent of Springdale Public School where they were studying is extending all support for them.
The duo are showing their interest in academics too. In this sport, the two competitors fight using rapier-style swords known as the foil, the epee and the sabre.

Among these three, both Nithin and Nikhil were practicing the foil which is a light thrusting weapon and targets the torso and not the arms or legs. Nithin said, his ambition was to participate in the Olympics once he attained that age. On the academic front, Nithin wants to become an oncology doctor while Nikhil likes to become an IPS officer. Their father RadhaKrishna said, there is no encouragement for this sport in the district nor there are coaches.

He stated that the government should take initiative to provide all facilities at Srinivasa Sports Complex in Tirupati which can enable many interested students, who cannot afford to go to other places for coaching. “If this is done, district can get many medals both at national and international levels,” he added.

By V Pradeep Kumar