The Kudo Kombat League (KKL), a project initiated by Renshi Vispy Kharadi and his mentor Hanshi Mehul Vora, "will be hosted for the first time in India and also throughout the world” in December 2024, revealed Surat-based Kharadi. Kudo is a Japanese mixed combat sport combining karate, judo, jujutsu, muay thai (Thai boxing) and kickboxing.
The decision to organize KKL was the outcome of "a fruitful board meeting” held by the officials of Kudo International Federation India (KIFI) and Kudo Asia Pacific at the Kudo International Federation headquarters in Japan, noted a write-up by Surat community activist Maharukh Chichgar. To help Kudo India achieve major milestones in the near future, expert trainers from overseas will visit India and train kudo players to enrich their knowledge and expertise in the art.
Top: Vispy Kharadi breaking concrete blocks with his elbows to create a record;
above, from l: kudo officials Farzana and Vispy Kharadi, Mehul Vora, Riyotto Azuma,
Osada Kenichi, Jasmine Makwana, Megha Vora
While Kharadi serves as head coach for Kudo India, his wife Sensei (teacher in Japanese) Farzana is general secretary of KIFI where Sensei Megha Vora is president. As explained by Vispy, he has been conferred the title of "Renshi (teacher of teachers), on achieving certain levels (dan) in black belt and also on seniority in the respective martial arts lineage. I am a multiple black belt holder in different forms of martial arts.”
He was equally elated to announce that he has been appointed ambassador for FIT India Mission. Launched by the Prime Minister in 2019, the goal is "to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives by bringing about behavioral changes and moving towards a more physically active lifestyle.”
Vispy who embodies fitness has trained his body to withstand pain and torture. His life journey and spectacular feats as documented by History Channel were seen in the popular show "OMG Ye Mera India” Season 10, episode 2. He is acclaimed by the Zoroastrian community in Surat for the 13 Guinness records that he is said to have created and bettered beginning 2010. Seven of these concern his ability to lay his torso on a bed of nails and withstand varying weights (up to 1,400 kg) in the form of "most layered human and nailbed sandwich,” or have a 964.8 kg concrete block broken on him or have a five-layer human and nailbed sandwich plus six people stand atop him. His elder son Zidaan, aged 14 years, also participated in one of his challenging stunts of human and nail sandwich.
The record holder’s ability to break 64 concrete blocks with his elbows in one minute, crush 89 drink cans with his hands in one minute, bend 21 iron construction rods of 12 mm thickness with his neck in one minute, or have 49 watermelons cut on his stomach with a Japanese Katana sword while he is lying on a bed of nails for one minute, are some of the other Guinness records with which his name is associated.
Whether training the personnel of the Border Security Force to combat the enemy bravely or choreographing fight scenes for movies, many are in awe of Vispy’s sinews of steel.