41 martial artists take Taekwondo Black Dan exam

7-year-old Sneha Pradhan [right], the youngest contender for a Black Belt in Taekwondo today in battle for her belt.

GANGTOK, 18 Aug: Forty-one martial artists appeared for the Black Belt Dan Promotion Examination conducted by the Taekwondo Federation of India [TFI] under the authority of the World Taekwondo Headquarter Kukkiwon [Korea] at White Hall today.
Out of the 41, Ugen Gurung and Pradeep Mukhia appeared for the 3rd Dan black-belt, 9 for 2nd Dan and rest, 30 took the examination for 1st Dan black belt.
TFI had appointed SATA chief coach, Trilok Subba as the Observer and SATA assistant coach, Rajen Subba as the Examiner for the examination.
The examination was marked for 100 points with 60 marks for Poomsae and 10 marks each for Kheorugi [sparring], brick-breaking, board-breaking by kicks and self-defense techniques.
Mr Subba informed that this was the fourth black belt examination conducted for Sikkim. He further informed that the examination report will be sent to the TFI headquarters in Bangalore within 2 days, which will then be sending it further to the World Taekwondo Headquarter at Kukkiwon [Korea].
Speaking on the benefits of black belt, Mr Subba explained that as per the latest TFI rules, only black belt holders are allowed to take part in the junior and senior nationals or represent the country.
7-year-old Sneha Pradhan was the youngest examinee today and also in the line-up were 10-year-olds, Pema Gyaltsen Sherpa and Aarohan Rai.