Out of the box

‘‘One of my closest pals introduced me to Johnbhai (Abraham), who wanted me to teach him kickboxing.’’ Students like Abraham and others, who are learning kickboxing at the 10 centres run by Zia, have become the kickboxer’s lifeline. He hopes to coach many more celebrities as word spreads but his aim is to popularise kickboxing among youngsters.

‘‘Kickboxing is a good mode of self-defence for girls. I feel that more girls should come forward to learn this martial art like in the West,’’ opines Zia.

Abraham is also full of praise for Zia’s skills. He says, ‘‘He is a very good trainer and has taught me many things, especially discipline.’’ However, Zia laments that the income from his training centres is still insufficient to push his kickboxing career.

‘‘Due to lack of fund, I had to miss the international championships in Malaysia and Australia last year,” he rues, adding that professional clubs from Nepal and Malaysia have also got in touch with him.

For becoming a kickboxer, one has to be trained in both karate and boxing. Zia’s love for karate started at the age of six. The youngest son of Moinuddin Khatib, a police inspector, he claimed the black belt at just 14 and had even trained young recruits at the Amravati camp of the Maharashtra Police.

He then trained under well-known boxing coach Ganesh Purohit for a year at Nagpur. Initially, he was attracted towards boxing but the sport was not listed at the universities in Amravati and Nagpur.

Zia then focussed his energies on kickboxing and his moment of glory came at the All Indian Kickboxing Championship at Amravati’s twin city Badnera, where he walked away with gold medals both in the lightweight and open categories. From there, he moved to Mumbai’s Rizvi Education Society and won several laurels for the college and also emerged as the university boxing champion. Simultaneously, he pursued kickboxing and won a silver medal at the International Panathalon Kickboxing Championship at Kathmandu.

It was finally these titles that helped his mother to reconcile with Zia’s choice of sport. ‘‘My mother came to terms only after she saw me winning, but my grandma still wants me to quit the game,’’ he says. Nevertheless, Zia draws inspiration from his family — especially his eldest brother Alimuddin, an officer with the Maharashtra Police. ‘‘Bada bhai has been so supportive after my father’s death. He, along with my other supporters, were key to my success in this field.’’