An Asian gold medalist in Silambam, Kamalesh has won 23 national medals and excelled in two international matches, including the Asian Silambam Championship. As a dedicated trainer and mentor, he has trained ten national gold medalists in Silambam. Recognized as the ‘Best Martial Artist of the Year’ in 2019, Kamlesh's dedication to martial arts and towards his students is inspiring.

Kamalesh D is a Sports Player, Silambam Coach and Owner of Vezham Sports Academy in Trichy, Tamil Nadu.

Kamalesh D is an Asian Gold Medalist in Silambam, a traditional Tamil martial art and sport. Practicing the sport for the past thirteen years, he is a trainer and mentor to 100+ students and has produced ten national gold medalists in the sport.

Kamalesh explains that Silambam is an Indian martial art originating in Tamil Nadu. He says his grandfather used to practice this traditional martial art form Silambam, recognised as a sport now. Kamalesh was always very curious about how to rotate the Silambam stick and fight with it. He followed his grandfather as an inspiration, but his grandfather never taught this sport to him.  He joined a boxing academy, where there were Silambam classes too. He expressed his interest in learning the sport to his coach. However, at that time, Kamalesh did not have much money to pay the fees to learn the sport at the academy. Fortunately, his coach decided to train him for free, and to date, he has not charged him any money.

After getting settled in the field, Kamalesh felt an urge to repay by training other students in Silambam,  who too could not afford to pay the fee. Hence, he started coaching students in this art. He started by training 10 students with whatever little knowledge he had. But those were like a few drops in the ocean, as he says. Today he has his own academy called ‘Vezham Silambam Sports Academy. He says the word ‘Vezham’ means ‘war elephant.’

Kamalesh D shares that he has been participating in sports since the 6th grade. He has won 23 national medals and also two in international matches— an Indo-Nepal Youth Asian match and an Asian Silambam Championship match. He was also recognised as the ‘Best Martial Artist of the Year’ by the Martial Arts Authority of India in 2019 at Ahmedabad . Kamalesh has also been awarded the ‘Rajya Puraskar’ by the Tamil Nadu government. He was felicitated with the ‘Best Sportsman Award’ by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in Tiruchirappalli for 2019, 2020, and 2021 consecutively. He also got the ‘Best Sportsman Award’ from the Collector of Trichy District.

Apart from Silambam, Kamalesh is also a national bronze medalist in wrestling. He also has medals in boxing and Pencak Silat. He shares that all the above-stated martial arts are linked to Silambam. He quotes that “Silambam is the mother of all martial arts.”

His coach Master Vijay Kumar, and Hassan Selvaraj, a renowned actor and martial artist in Tamil Nadu, were his inspirations to get into the field of sports. Kamalesh aspires to dispel the popular myth that “Fat men cannot do sports” and that “Muscles won’t win fights.”

Hailing from Trichy in Tamil Nadu Kamaleshwas born on 19th December, 2001. Currently a student of physiotherapy, He says he is practicing his love of both sports and medicine by learning Physiotherapy. He shares that being a physiotherapist is like an add-on for him in his profession as a Silambam trainer.

Talking about his childhood, Kamalesh shares that he lost at least 50 matches in the beginning when he started playing this game. He clearly understood the phrase “Survival is of the fittest” at that time. People used to laugh at his failures, but it fueled a fire in his heart and increased his dedication toward the sport. Today he feels thankful to those who laughed at him in his tough times, as that helped him become an Asian gold medalist today.

Talking about his role models, Kamalesh shares that his coach was his first inspiration in the field of sports. Secondly, he shares that he drew inspiration from Bruce Lee’s enemy and opponent Sham-Huan, who despite being obese, had stances that could not be copied even by legends like Bruce Lee. He also looks up to his coach as his role model.

When Kamalesh feels down and whenever he has a hard time during his sports competitions, the song from the movie ‘Dangal’ motivates him a lot. Songs from this movie refuel the zeal and energy within him to give his best to his sport.

Talking about the preparations required behind appearing at international level competitions, Kamalesh advises having consistency, practice, and patience. He shares the process of reaching the national level, which goes like this: clear the district level with a gold medal to be qualified for the state level. By getting a gold at the state level, one can be selected for the national level or south zone level. By performing at the national level consecutively for 3 years with a good ranking, the candidate will be selected for the India team, which will compete in the international championships.

Kamalesh advises sports enthusiasts to first recognise the sport that suits them, understand it thoroughly, and then start playing it. Giving the example of Messi, the legendary footballer, he asks what would have happened if Lionel Messi played Cricket instead of Football or if Sachin Tendulkar would have played Football. He suggests never making such a mistake and recognising your own unique field and shining in that sport.

Kamalesh shares a message for the women of the nation: never feel shy about entering the sports field. Secondly, he advises that a sports person's highest dream must not be to reach the state or national level, but making our country proud on the international level and winning a gold for India.

Lastly, Kamalesh D laments that India has a number of talented players, but no financial support is available to them which is a big hurdle in their sports careers. Hence, he suggests that good financial support and sponsorships should be provided to such sportsmen which would help their careers immensely.