16-yr-old Chennai girl sets Asian record for blind-folded Silambam

CHENNAI: A 16-year-old girl from Chennai has created a world record by performing Silambam blind-folded for about 11 and a half hours. A Class 11 student, Archana started Silambam as a child and wanted the sport to be recognised internationally.

For the Asian record, she started performing Silambam from morning 7.15 am till evening 07.00 pm. Asian book of Records Organiser Vivek Nayar and Official record officer of World Record Union and Asian book of Records, Sherina Hanif witnessed and recorded the programme. Sherina Hanif handed over the World Records Union Certificate for the longest duration blindfolded Silambam performance to Archana.

"I have been training from the 1st standard in Silambam when I was 6 years old. I was interested in blind folded Silambam when I heard of the competition. I practiced blind fold for four days and the maximum duration was about seven hours per day for the record," she said.

Talking about her interest in the same, she said, "I saw a few people doing Silambam during a temple festival and when I saw that people were doing it with fire, it looked like magic to me. It made me more curious and I was excited to do it myself, " she added.

"In Tamil Nadu at least, people recognise Silambam but it should get more recognition and be supported by sports authorities. It is also not given much importance unlike other self-defence techniques such as Karate, Boxing, and Taekwondo, " Archana continued.

Her parents have been supportive of her journey of learning Silambam for the past 10 years. "Children should be active in at least some sports and if they are interested, they can further pursue sports as a career. She wants to become a doctor but if she wants to go ahead and become a sportsperson, I will support her. All parents should do that, " said Archana's father Udhaya Kumar.