Silambam-wielding city kids enter record books

According to the trainers, it took more than seven years for the team to achieve the feat and the students participated in the 12-17 age category creating a new record on January 2.

“From childhood, I wanted to learn the traditional sport. Our master trained us for seven years free of cost. As a first step, we performed for one hour continuously in Tiruchy. To upgrade our performance, we practised regularly for at least 10 hours a day eyeing a world record,” said S Gayathri, a class 10 student at a government school.

“On the other hand, we also continued our studies and our school was supportive,” she added.

They received the award from Minister of Cooperation I Periyaswamy and the coach was given the Muthamizh Kalaignar award recently.

“For this world record, they spent more than 10 hours daily and focused completely on the training. They were not engaged in any other activities. Even the school management supported the students and the recent recognition of Silambam under the sports quota is an added advantage,” said G Gowthaman, coach, Triple D sports and games academy.

“We have received the first Oscar world record for this year, and we are practising for other records,” he added.