How Bollywood is inspiring Indians to take up Taekwondo

Taekwondo as a sport and as a martial art is in its adolescent stages in India. While there are people who practice it daily and work towards making it a mainstream sport in the country, there also are people who have no clue about Taekwondo as a sport or a martial art. Add to this the fact that it is a largely a male dominated sport with less than 1 in 10 Taekwondo practitioners in India being women, the martial art forms a highly sorry state in the country.

Though over the years, there has been a steady increase in the number of women Taekwondoins in India, the growth has been slow and sluggish. A large part of the credit for this should go the country’s movie industry Bollywood.

Many stars in the Bollywood industry are well known for their Taekwondo skills. Likes of Tiger Shroff, Sonu Sood and Mohan Lal are all highly trained in the field of Taekwondo. Besides them, superstars like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan are also trained Taekwondoins. Other than the male actors, some female stars are also openly advocating the martial art form andhave helped spark some interest in the sport for women in the country.

Sonu Sood

Actress Neetu Chandra who is a black belt in Taekwondo has played a very big role in promoting the sport amongst Indian women. She has even represented the country in Taekwondo during the World Taekwondo Championships in the year 2017. Besides, actresses like Isha Koppikar and Sandhya Shetty have also been advocating the sport for self defence for women and pushing for the growth of Taekwondo. Former Miss Universe participant, Urvashi Rautela is also a trained Taekwondo martial artist.

The arrival of the group from Korea, K-Tiger, who promote martial art online, has also given a much needed boost for Taekwondo amongst women in India. Although, other sports in the country continue to grow at a doubling pace in India, Taekwondo too is slowly finding its feet in the country.