With his perseverance and commitment to martial arts, Harish has come a long way from being a newspaper vendor to becoming the director of a martial arts academy. After winning multiple golds in state and national competitions, he now helps his students realise goals that he himself was unable to accomplish.

A Martial Arts veteran of 28 years, Harish Kumar Sanwariya is the Director of the Zeal Martial Arts and Fitness Point in Udaipur.

Inspired by Bruce Lee, the legendary martial arts practitioner, Harish  decided to pursue martial arts training. While searching for a master, he got to know about the Karate class of ‘Shihan’ Rajkumar Menaria and started training under his guidance. However, due to some financial issues in his family, he started to work as a newspaper vendor to earn money for his training fee.

Despite all the challenges, he persisted in his karate training. He remembers waking up at two in the morning, distributing newspapers, and then going for his karate practice on Gandhi Ground.

Harish remembers that because of his intense training, he would harm his opponents in every event and be disqualified. His parents began urging him to quit the sport after he was unable to win any medals in the competitions. Because of their intense fighting style, the Udaipur team was the one that all other teams feared most during tournaments. When their team competed in a Taekwondo event in Jhunjhunu in 2003, their teacher urged them to earn a medal by fighting in a way that was disciplined and would not injure their opponents.

Vividly remembering the tournament events, Harish says that despite the fact that several of his teammates had lost, he entered the arena, fought with great caution, and prevailed in the opening round. He won six fights in the series. Though he suffered a leg injury during the competition, he won a bronze medal for the first time in his life.

When he returned to Udaipur, his story appeared in the local newspaper along with his photographs. Upon seeing his triumph, his loved ones showered him with accolades. The admiration he received for taking home the medal made him feel pleased and inspired him to take home more. Subsequently, he took part in other competitions, achieved numerous medals, and even participated in a national tournament. He also earned a Black Belt by passing  a grading test.

Upon earning his black belt, he parted from his instructor and started a new venture by himself. He realised that he had neglected his studies because of his total focus on martial arts. He reveals that he even passed his 10th and 12th standards in the third division, helped by grace marks.

Unable to decide what to do, he began teaching karate to two children on their house's terrace. Over time, more pupils began to visit him to practise karate. He began teaching on the grounds of the nearby temple as he attracted more students.

By an unfortunate turn of fate, he lost all his money as well, having been duped by scammers. However, one of his friends offered him a place where he could hold his karate class. Later, a father-son duo who used to come to be trained by him, recommended and supported him to open a martial arts centre (dojo) where the students would have access to all the amenities and equipment. Eventually, he founded his own institute in 2012, making it the first in all of Rajasthan to have all the amenities. The number of his students continued to grow. They then began competing in various competitions and were successful in winning medals.

Stunned by the Nirbhaya case of 2012, he committed himself to teaching self-defence to female students and contacted many educational institutions for the same. With permission from one of the government schools, he conducted three days of training there.

After that, he had several requests from schools to conduct workshops and provide self-defence training. Additionally, he became associated with the Rajasthan Patrika and the Dainik Bhasker, who conducted workshops at several educational institutions. He was seeing good outcomes and was able to raise awareness of self-defence among the people of Udaipur.

His institute whose tagline is “Seva, Suraksha, aur Sanskar" got famous for self defence training, He volunteered alongside his students at many ashrams. Along with working on personality development, he additionally advised the pupils in his institute about the value of celebrations. He feels proud to have more girl students than boys.

Talking about his role models, Harish says he learned from Rajkumar Menaria, his martial art teacher and spiritual guru, who became his role model in life.

Listening to the song “Ruk jaana nahi” inspires him to keep going, and the song “Jeena isi ka naam hai” motivates him to do something for others.

Sharing his achievements, Harish says that coming from being a newspaper vendor to becoming the head of a martial arts institution, he is pleased with how far he has come. He has competed in international open tournaments hosted in India and won numerous medals at the state and national levels. Now that he is a teacher, he is happy to see his students winning medals.

He advocates for young children to participate in sports and informs them about various government initiatives where, if they achieve national medals in their career, they become eligible to get a government job. He highlights various career options that a sportsperson can pursue, such as starting an institute or coaching school students. He points out that there is a great need for female martial art instructors, emphasising that even girls can succeed in the field of martial art.

Advising all the youngsters, Harish says that connecting to our culture is just as important as being up to date with new technologies. He urges them to keep in touch with our culture and heritage and work for the growth of the nation.