I want to win gold at the next World Kudo Cup: Zidaan Vispy Kharadi

At the recently concluded World Kudo Cup 2025 in Bulgaria, Surat’s Zidaan Vispy Kharadi made India proud by winning a silver medal. The 16-year-old martial arts sensation says, “I am the only player from Gujarat who won a medal at this year’s World Cup, which had over 500 athletes from 30 countries competing. It’s a huge achievement but I am sad about narrowly missing out on the gold medal. It was a very close fight and the scores were level, but the referee eventually ruled in favour of my Japanese opponent. While we felt it was a biased decision, we can’t do anything about it. I will come back stronger and want to win gold next time. I became the first Indian kudo player to beat a Japanese player at the World Cup when I won the semi-final. Now, I want to do even better at the next World Cup.”

He adds, “Surat offers very good facilities for kudo players and I am happy to see that a lot of young players are taking up the sport. Also, we now have more than one lakh kudo practitioners in India, which is a huge number.”
What is kudo?
It is a Japanese hybrid martial art and combat sport, comprising full contact punches, kicks, throwing and submission techniques on the ground.
‘I have always been interested in martial arts’

Talking about his journey, he shares, “I started practising karate at the age of three under my dad. I have always been interested in martial arts. Currently, I am a student of Class XI (Science) and our education system is such that it’s tough for a sportsperson to balance studies and sport. I have chosen dummy schooling and I am a good student, so I have managed to cope well.”

‘I look at setbacks as a stepping stone to success’

Recalling his World Championship loss in 2023, he says, “While I was the national champion for over a decade, I lost in the first round to a player from Georgia. I look at setbacks as a stepping stone to success and I trained harder after that. During the off season, I train for four hours daily. But for this World Cup, I trained for about 10 hours every day.”

‘My father has been my biggest inspiration’

Vispy Kharadi, Zidaan’s father, is a reputed martial arts expert and a 16-time Guinness World Record holder. Zidaan says, “Dad has been my coach since childhood and while he can be very strict during training, he has been my biggest inspiration. After I won this medal, he told me, ‘I know you were the better player in the final and you won. So, for me, you have won the gold.’ Those words meant a lot. Yazdan (13), my younger brother, is also a kudo player and he competed in the under-13 boys category at the World Cup. We often train together.”

He adds, “Yazdan is least interested in breaking dad’s world records (laughs). He says, ‘I don’t want records, I will just fight.’ But I might try and break a few of his records later.”