Warangal basks in Guinness glory

​Warangal: Warangal Police Commissionerate has its name engraved in the Guinness Book of World Records for organising ‘Largest Self-defence Lesson’ at a single venue.

Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu, the man who made it possible with his brainchild Swashakti, a programme aimed at making women and college girls more self-reliant by imparting a few self-defence techniques to them.

Carpeted in green, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JNS) on Wednesday looked like a riot of colours and the chilly wintry morning was picture perfect for 21,276 girls to flex their muscles to learn a few tricks of self-defence on their way to create a world record bettering the previous record by more than 22 minutes.

The previous record was held by South American Krav Maga Federation which organised Krav Maga, an Israel self-defence technique, lesson at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) on May 29, 2010 in which 2,212 people participated.

It may be noted here that a whopping 27,000-odd women and girls enrolled their names online to participate in self-defence lesson when the Police Commissioner came up with the idea of organising Swashakti programme a couple of weeks ago.

Buoyant by the stupendous response for the programme, the Commissioner had to change the venue to JNS instead of Police Parade Grounds. The response also made him to contact the authorities of Guinness Book of World Records.

Under the supervision of Guinness representatives led by Squadron Leader R Jayasimha, the headcount of the girls who made a beeline to the JNS was conducted.

Each girl was given a number card. While Rani Rudrama Devi Self-Defence Academy founder Laxmi along with her disciples demonstrated the techniques of self-defence from the dais, the girls in pairs practised them with the help of stewards.

It may be noted here that for a mass participation record, a steward each needed to supervise a group of 50 or fewer participants, as per the Guinness guidelines.

The instructor who took the podium to explain and demonstrate the self–defence techniques was Rani Rudrama Devi Self Defence Academy founder Laxmi.

Forming pairs, the girls repeated the techniques as the trainers demonstrated. Huge digital screens have also been erected for the benefit of participants to follow the instructions.

The event was supervised by Sqn Leader R Jayasimha and Tripuraneni Gopichand, both representing the Guinness Records.

Amid the roar of participants, Jayasimha announced that it was a Guinness Record surpassing the previous record set by South American Krav Maga Federation in 2010 both in terms of time and number of participants. The time recorded was 52.35 minutes. The earlier record was just 30 minutes.

Chief guest and Telangana DGP Anurag Sharma said: “It’s yet another case of women proving they are second to none.

All that the women need to do is to come out boldly to share their problems with us and we are ever-ready to help them.”

Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu said: “The event is one of those steps that Commissionerate wants to turn the region a safe place for women. With Warangal has the potential to attract the investors, the safety of the denizens is paramount.”

Warangal Urban District Collector Amrapali Kata, Rural District Collector Prashant J Patil and Janagoan District Collector Devasena, DIG Ravi Varma, senior civil judge and District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) Secretary G Neelima were among others who witnessed the record.

B.Tech student Quote: B Anitha, a B.Tech. student of SREC College, Anantasagar, said: “It was a magnificent experience and now I feel a bit of confidence.

The Warangal Commissionerate which formed She teams to create a sense of security among the women and girls has always been helpful to students.”