Meet Manipuri neurosurgeon who teaches wushu as passion

In his mission to promote wushu, renowned Manipuri neurosurgeon Mayanglambam Amitkumar teaches the combat sport to children at a quiet corner in Imphal East district.

Driven by his childhood attachment with the game, Amitkumar couldn't leave the sport till date. The bottom-line of his enduring tendency is that he imparts training to around 50 children.

Amitkumar, who won laurels in several national championships, is the first Indian to score above 9:00 points (9:20) in international wushu competition at the 3rd World Wushu Championships at Baltimore, USA, in 1995, a record he held till 2011.

A resident of Brahmapur Nahabam Bamon Leikai in Imphal East district, 44-year-old Amitkumar is a consultant neurosurgeon at the government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.

After his hard day’s work at the medical college, he puts on his tracksuit, and moves directly to the Wangkhei area where he trains around 50 children, including girls, at a community hall before returning to his residence in the evening.

Amitkumar, who checks and treats patients in the morning, has been imparting wushu lessons to children from time to time since 1991.

“Medical practice is my profession and wushu is my passion and way of life, as I have been associated with the game since I was in Class III. I will continue to play and train wushu till my health permits,” said a soft-spoken Amitkumar.

Amitkumar learnt the sport from his father Mayanglambam Biramani Singh, a wushu exponent with a short age-gap of just 20 years between the father-son duo.

As his younger brother Sachidananda Mayanglambam and their youngest sister Mayanglambam Usharani are also wushu champions of international repute, Amitkumar’s family is popularly known as the “Wushu Family".

Notably, Sachidananda is currently associated as technical official in the ongoing 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

A retired state government employee, Biramani was a Budokan karate exponent before switching over to wushu in 1990 after he learnt the game from Master Chin, the chief wushu coach of Malaysia at the behest of Grand Master of Budokan karate, Chew Choo Soot, at his Kaula Lumpur residence.

Under Biramani’s initiative, the formal wushu movement started in Manipur.

“I began learning wushu from my father when I was a kid. When my father left for his office, I learnt the theoretical part of the game at home, and again practised with him after he returned home,” Amitkumar said.

Before joining to JNIMS, Amitkumar was a Major in the Indian Army for five years in the military’s short service commission during which he helped establish and also worked additionally for a few years as in-charge of the Army Wushu Node, giving wushu training to army players in Shillong in 2005.

Besides saving many lives as a doctor, Amitkumar has also produced various national and international wushu medal winner.

Among them are L. Sanatombi Devi, M. Gyandash Singh, and M. Punshiva Meitei, who clinched a bunch of gold medals in several international competitions.

Amitkumar did his MBBS from the Regional Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in Imphal in 2001, MS (General Surgery) from AFMC Pune in 2013, and MCh (Neurosurgery) from AIIMS, New Delhi, in 2018.

He participated in the 1st, 3rd and 7th World Wushu Championships in Beijing (1991), Baltimore (1995), and Macau (2003), respectively.

He had bagged three gold medals each and was adjudged best player titles in the 4th and 5th National Wushu Championships held in Hyderabad in 1992 and Lucknow in 1993, respectively.

He also won a gold medal each in the 2nd and 12th National Championships held in 1991 in Kolkata and in 2003 in Chennai, respectively, and two gold medals in the 6th National Championships in Aizawl in 1995.

About the wushu training unit in Imphal, Amitkumar said there are three/four coaches besides him.

“For paying their (coaches') monthly remunerations, we charge minimal fees from the students... I also contribute Rs 25,000 from my side in the fund pool,” he said.