52-year-old Taekwondo champion trains Capital’s women cops in self-defence

Shakeel Ahmed, a former Taekwondo champion, who has been conducting self-defence training under Delhi Police’s Sashakti campaign, is now training the force’s women constables.

Flying kicks, elbow strikes, middle punches, drop kicks and other fighting and defence techniques are a regular feature of the daily routine of the women preparing to join the Delhi Police. And the Delhiite who is mentoring their transformation in the last stages of training, as part of the force’s Sashakti campaign, is Taekwondo champion, Shakeel Ahmed. Ahmed has been certified as a national referee by the Taekwondo Federation of India, and is a former coach of the Delhi state senior male Taekwondo team.

Shakeel Ahmed is training 10 women cops of Delhi Police under the programme Sashakti. (Manoj Verma/ HT Photo)

So far, Ahmed has trained over 60,000 school and college girls. Presently, he’s imparting fighting skills to 10 women constables from South East Delhi. “I started practicing martial arts in 1982, and competed at an international tournament in South Korea in 1993. Then I opted for further training to hone my skills. I have been associated with the Delhi Police for more than 10 years. I still remember the first time I met them [senior officials from the police department] during their annual event in the Capital,” says Ahmed.

A trainee practises the Tiger Jump, which is a defence technique taught in the advanced stages of black belt training.

This is the first batch of Delhi Police women constables to receive training under Ahmed as part of a three-month course under the scheduled training programme. “There are 10 women constables. Some are new and some have been associated with this project for three years. My purpose of training them is the thought that once they have learnt the tricks, they will spread this skills among other girls and older women,” says Ahmed.

Self-defence trainer Shakeel Ahmed has been training young girls in schools and colleges for the last 10 years.

After their training, constables trained by Ahmed will visit schools to impart self-defence training to young girls. “Our emphasis is not on attacking techniques, but on how to defend oneself. Some of the fundamental techniques we teach the girls include using a pen to get rid of your attacker, grabbing and pulling the hair of the attacker, and dealing with miscreants in a crowded bus,” says Dimple Chaudhary, a constable.

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