Tibetan Martial Arts Enthusiast Awarded Go-dan Degree in Karate[Saturday, 23 January 2010, 14:47 p.m.]

Tsering Dorjee (R) receiving Go-dan certificate from Master Yamaguchi

Tokyo: Tsering Dorjee, a young Tibetan from Gangtok, Sikkim was awarded black belt Go-dan
degree from International Karate Do Gojukai Association (IKGA), World
Headquarter, Tokyo, Japan after going through the rigorous test and
competitions in Tokyo. Go-dan degree, equivalent to PhD degree is
considered to be one of the highest accomplishments in martial arts
world.A great fan of martial arts, Dorjee acquired his first
black belt in 1992 from All India Budokai Association, Madras. He had
earlier won the All India National Championship Gold Medal for three
successive years in 1993, 1994 and 1995.Dorjee worked at the
Department of Security of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in
Dharamsala, India. He trains people in Karate and has many students
under his guidance. In 2001, under the scholarship of TEIKI Security
International, CTA sent him to Tokyo for further training. He practised
for a year and half, during which he won San-dan. On returning to
India, he continued teaching Karate to the young people.Again
in 2003, under TEIKI Security International’s scholarship, the
department sent him again to Tokyo for two years up-grade his degree.
He studied at Goju-kai Karate-Do in Tokyo. At the end of two years, he
was awarded the Yon-dan in Karate and Sho-dan in Akido martial
arts. Upon his return to India, he resumed his duty, where young
Tibetan, Indian and Nepalese are trained in the art. Some seventy
students under his guidance have acquired black belt in Karate.In
2009, president of the Goju-kai Karate-Do invited him to complete the
Go-dan in the martial art. Practising arduously for six months, Dorjee
finally excelled the tests and the competitions on 20 January. The
president of IKGA, Master Goshi Yamaguchi awarded him the coveted
Go-dan degree amid big applause from the seniors and fellow student in
the art.Tsering Dorjee can be said as the first Tibetan to
acquire Go-dan in Gojuryu Karate. He says he is inspired by His
Holiness the Dalai Lama’s emphasis on becoming professional, and had
worked hard to acquire this degree.He plans to train good
number of students, who can participate in the forthcoming World Karate
Tournament scheduled in 2013 in Pune, India. He can be contacted at
[email protected]–Report filed by Tsewang Gyalpo, Office of Tibet, Japan