R Ajai, a 23-year-old youngster from Coimbatore, has been training school students in Wushu via his free coaching classes for the last two years. Furthermore, he spreads awareness about this game and kindles an interest among students.
Ajai lives in SMC Palayam, Annur and his father is a lathe mechanic and mother, a tailor. Despite the financial crisis, he has been coaching about 20 students in his village. One of his students even won the medal at a national-level Wushu competition. "Because of my curiosity, I started practicing this game since I was in class VII. Amid the financial burden, my parents sent me to a private school for my studies. Despite this, I was unable to get a private coach for this game. Coach P Jhonson, who used to visit the school to give coaching to all students, started to give special training to me, two days a week and free-of-cost, for many years," Ajai said.
He said that because of this training he could bag gold in state-level games. "As I needed a lot of money, I could not get special training. I could not win in the national-level games, though I tried," he said. "As there is no awareness about this game among students, I made the decision that I would use what I learnt and coach rural students because this game is recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and is also listed by Sports and School Games of Federation India (SGFI)," Ajai shared.
"When I started coaching, only one student would come to practice, which was held in an open ground in our village. A government school teacher Ram Prakash, who saw this, allotted his own place for us to practice this game. Within a short time, students who did not show much interest in the beginning started to attend the class. At present, our strength is 20 and they are trained by me. Except a few, many students have won state-level games and only one student, Rohan, won the bronze medal in 20th Sub-Junior National Level Championship under-24 kg category," he said."Some students contribute their own money to purchase equipment, accessories and so on for practice. If the government helps us, the students who get trained here can bag many chances to win at state and national level SGFI (School Games Federation of India) games," he opined.
A class VI student RN Rohan, who won bronze at the national level, shared, "My father, who heard that free classes for Wushu are being conducted for students in our village, admitted me here. Though I had no interest in the beginning, after getting coaching from him, I got interested in this game. Later, I attended district and state-level competitions and won at the state and national level too. Despite this, I have been practicing here till now."
"After I joined here, I feel that I am healthy and I follow good food habits," he said. A parent, P Senthil Kumar, in Annur informed, "My son, who is studying in class II at Government Primary School in Annur, is attending coaching classes for the last six months. He also won a district-level competition due to the coach's effort. As I am a daily wage worker, I cannot send him to a private coaching class by paying money. As Ajai is coaching students for free, poor students are benefited in our locality."
