23-04-2025
Ludhiana: City lad bags silver medal at US karate championship
Tarun Sharma, a para karate player from Khanna, won the silver medal in K21 category at the USA Open Karate Championship held in Las Vegas from April 16 to 20. This achievement comes at the heels of Sharma winning two gold medals at last year's Commonwealth Karate Championships in South Africa.
Earlier this year, Sharma struck gold at the 4th KIO National Karate Championship in Hyderabad., Sharma's story is one of sheer grit and unwavering determination.
Tarun's journey has taken him across the globe, securing a silver at the 2022 Asian Para Championship in Uzbekistan, a bronze in Malaysia in 2023, and a podium finish at the 2019 World Championship in Ireland. His early breakthrough came with winning multiple medals at the
Having suffered a paralytic attack at the age of six, Sharma was bullied as a child. Before his breakthrough in Hungary Open and Uzbekistan Open in 2018, where he won multiple medals, he underwent years of financial hardship and worked as a vegetable vendor in Khanna. During last year, he staged a symbolic protest over unemployment, shoe-shining outside the mini secretariat. In the same year, he was appointed as a deputy clerk at Khanna's Municipal Corporation.
Apart from his professional success, Sharma has trained more than 1,400 underprivileged girls in self-defense through his karate academy in Khanna.
