At 6, he is the youngest karate black belt

SURAT, MARCH 30: Like any other six-year-old, Alec Desai of Vapi attends school, likes new clothes and is obsessed with electronic toys. ...

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SURAT, MARCH 30: Like any other six-year-old, Alec Desai of Vapi attends school, likes new clothes and is obsessed with electronic toys. What sets him aside from the rest is that at the age of six years and four months, he is the youngest person to have earned a karate black belt in the country.

Born on November 13, 1992, to chemical engineer Ajay Desai and his wife Pragna, Alec was around three years old when he was admitted to a karate classes twice a week run by the All-India Exerkai Isshinryu Karate Association.

"The boy used to cry inconsolably at the beginning, but in less than a year, he picked up the art at a rate that I have not seen in the past 15 years in this institute," says Kiran Prajapati, his karate tutor.

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But in just one year’s time after Alec got his yellow belt, his teacher came to their home and told Desai that the boy was exceptionally gifted. Prajapati offered to put him through the rigours that would make him fit to attempt the black belt examination.

Alec left for Chennai withPrajapati on December 16 last year for the examination, which was supervised by a master from Japan. Besides performing the sequences involved in martial arts, candidates are expected to run 24 km and complete a number of tough exercises 100 times each.

"I managed to run the 24 km and was allowed a two minute rest in between," says Alec casually. Prajapati added that most others could not complete the distance.

The Chennai-based association awarded Alec a black belt and presented him a certificate of appreciation on January 4. Headed by Shihan Syed Ali Hussein, the association is affiliated to the Japanese Isshinruy school of martial arts. The Isshinryu style is taught at 221 centres in country. The one at Vapi has produced 261 black belts.

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The association plans to sponsor a trip to US for the child so that he may take part in an Isshinryu tournament to be held in June.

Alec, however, is too young to realise that he is a prodigy. He loves cricket and computer games. His routine is quite like that ofhis peers – school in the morning, a little rest in the afternoon, homework after that. Evening, however, is left free for practicing what he enjoys most – karate.

His love for karate is reflected in his preference of movies. "I only watch Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Van Damme movies in English. In Hindi movies, I like watching Akshay Kumar movies," says the little karate master.

But he has no ambition to ape the heroes on screen. Ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, and the reply is something that lakhs of children all over India will say: "I want to be a doctor."

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Has Alec ever bullied his schoolmates, considering that with his skills, he could misuse them to get what he wants. "No, he’s a nice boy and does not lose this temper. I don’t remember him getting out of control even once," says his mother.