Brijesh Garodi
With Inputs from Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)

Mangalore, Jul 14: Cheetah Yajnesh Shetty, a famed Bollywood stuntman who hails from Karkala, has added yet another feather to his cap by being inducted into the 'United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame'. He is the first Indian to receive this honour.

Addressing a press meet here on Monday July 14, Shetty said, "With parents' blessings and god’s grace, I have been able to reach this position. I recently received the 'United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame' award and I am proud to break this news in my hometown first."

Sharing his journey, he said, "I was born in Ninjoor of Karkala and after completing my schooling, I went to Mumbai in search of job. Finally, I got a job in a restaurant in Mumbai, as an assistant waiter. As I was immensely interested in martial arts, I used to practice my skills in the restaurant's terrace at night after duty hours.

"Once, a family who visited our restaurant saw me practicing and wanted me to teach martial arts to their son and daughter. I was scared as none from the hotel management was aware that I was practicing martial arts in the restaurant.

"After a few days, my ITC manager called me to his chamber and handed a letter to me. I was scared that it was something bad. But when I read the letter, I had mixed feelings as I learnt that I had been promoted as the manager of fitness training.

"This was indeed a turning point in my life, as it was then that my career in fitness training took off. Today if I have reached this position, it is mainly due to the blessings of my parents and god's grace. Whenever I have something new to share about my career, I make it a point to first make it known in my hometown, and thus today I am in fornt of the media here to announce that I have been selected to for the United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame," he said.

"I run a fitness federation by name ‘Chitah Jeet Kune-Do Global Sports Federation’, which provides fitness training to many students, Bollywood stars and especially to women. I have been selected for thousands of nominations because of my dedication; discipline, confidence, patronage, sacrifice and martial arts skills," he added.

The award was announced by Prof Marty Cale, US Hall of Fame director, International Martial Arts Council of America Board of Directors. The award ceremony was held at St Louis, Missouri Sheraton City Central Hall on June 21.

"The award was conferred in the presence of the great masters GM Richard Bustillo (senior most student of Bruce Lee), Bill 'Super Foot' Wallace, undefeated PKA Champion, UFC veteran fighter Karo Parisyan. Due to short notice, I was unable to attend the ceremony and hence my master GM Richard Bustillo received the award on my behalf. He will be in India soon with my prestigious award," he said.

Yajnesh Shetty also said that he has trained more than two lac women across India under the Nirbhaya women empowerment training programme, and imparted training to street children, special children etc. "I have set up a special module for training girls, house wives etc called ‘simple techniques - powerful method’, wherein women and girls can protect and defend themselves at times of danger through simple techniques. We have employed these techniques successfully," he added.

Shetty has also trained almost four generations of Bollywood actors like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor and their children as well. "I have trained almost 150 movie stars, a feat which is going to enter in the Guinness Book of World Record. I have also been appreciated by the legendary Jackie Chan for my unique martial arts. Sir Richard Attenborough who starred in 11 Oscar Awards winning movie ‘Gandhi’ has also been trained by me. Oscar winning director Ang Lee selected my student Ayush Tandon for the movie Life of Pi," he informed.

"I have plans for starting up a martial arts training school in Mangalore as well, but the location has not been finalized. I also plan to direct a movie on martial arts, for which shooting will being in September or October," he said.