Once I put on my sporting gear I am a whole different person, and I absolutely love that dude ;).

Sports are a crucial part of my life and the most effective means to get my adrenalin going. It serves as portal into a different world altogether, a world where nothing else exists but fun and excitement. It doesn't matter to me what the game is as long as it is competitive and fun (and less running, for I am very lazy :P).

Of all the games I can play this is my favorite. I have been playing badminton with friends since my school days, although I never had a formal training. The game is part of my instinct now and its traces can be seen in all the gaming I do, be it tennis or volleyball.

Although it is my favourite sport, I have hardly participated in any tournaments. The only time I was competing in a team was when I was working at IBM.

• 2nd Place, Merchant's cup Badminton 2008, Team IBM Kolkata

For a "not so tall" person, volley ball isn't a very wise choice of sport. And yet when I started studying at college, that was the one game I thought I could play. Some of my friends played volleyball and I joined in. So I decided to join the NSO (the sports hour for a couple of credits at IIT KGP) and went for the trials. The coach asked me to do a couple of serves, and here is what happened: I couldn't get the ball across!! and ofcourse I had to buzz off.. Anyway long story short, I was part of the gold winning RK hall(hostel) team (3 years straight!) and IIT KGP team the last two years I was there.

To be honest, I used to feel like I was just following a few routines when I was playing volleyball; I never felt like I could just trust my instinct, like I could while playing badminton. But now I am slowly getting some feel for the game and am having a lot of fun!

While I was at IIT Kharagpur, I was part of RK Hall Volleyball team and the University Volleyball team.

• Gold, inter-Hall (University level), RK Hall, 2007
• Gold, inter-IIT (National level), IIT Kharagpur, 2006
• Gold, inter-Hall (University level), RK Hall, 2006
• Gold, 3-a-side (University level), 2006
• Gold, inter-IIT (National level), IIT Kharagpur Volleyball, 2005
• Gold, inter-Hall (University level), RK Hall, 2005

Back in my school days, I didn't have cable TV at home and the only channels I had access to were DoorDarshan (National TV) and its Sports channel. And the only things you could watch on DD Sports were the Olympic reruns of the most obscure sports you could ever find ! Judo was one of them. I used to watch those "fights" with great fascination; the fascination was about the scoring system! I never understood what was happening. All of a sudden some one would fly and the other guy would get a point (or not !). It started making a lot more sense after I started learning some take downs for Sanda. And then ofcourse came MMA which showcased the power of takedowns and ground fighting. I started watching a lot of Youtube videos and my attention was drawn to Brazilian JiuJitsu. And so ofcourse, I started learning BJJ at Frota Team Nogueira in August 2012.

I moved to San Diego, USA in 2014 with a single stripe on my white belt. There I joined Reellion Academy-Checkmat Mira Mesa. It has really been a great experience for me at this school. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I have come to really appreciate drilling and having training partners thanks to William Baldwin, one of the instructors. Jeff Baldwin, the head instructor is a great teacher and motivational personal who pushes me everytime I get lazy. I received my BJJ Blue belt from him in April of 2015, and Purple belt on October 22, 2017.

I never really liked KungFu. It looked very unreal from what I had seen in martial art movies. But when I moved to Switzerland in 2009, one of my colleagues, Roman Bauer, who was doing KungFu, invited me to give it a try. I didn't think much of it; but since I had nothing else to do, I thought why not, lets give it a try. It was so WRONG about KungFu! The more I trained, the more I realized howmuch there was to learn. Only later I discovered that it was called Wing Chun, and my whole life changed. I joined JustKnow Zurich and started training under Thomas Lotsch and Sifu Nenad Stojkovic. I also train in Sanda/Quingda fighting and have participated in several competitions.

I fight in -65 kg weight category.

• 2. Place, Light Contact, Schweizer Meisterschaft 2012
• 1. Place, Light Contact, Schweizer Meisterschaft 2011
• 3. Place, Light Contact, Iron Fist 2011
• 2. Place, Light Contact, Schweizer Meisterschaft 2010
• 2. Place, Full Contact, Internationale Deutsche Meisterschaft 2010

Growing up watching BruceLee and Jackie Chan movies, its no mystery that I was attracted to martial arts. I watched my friends at school learn Karate but unfortunately I could not manage to join them then. It was only when I started UG studies and joined IIT Kharagpur, I had my first real chance at giving martial arts a go. There was no way I was going to pass this opportunity. I started learning Shito-Ryu Karate from 2002 under Sensei Sapan Chatterjee and received a Brown Belt in 2005.

I took up a couple of fencing courses at ETH ASVZ. While this only spanned over a year, it was super fun. I realized it has to do a lot with 'skill' and less to do with diversity of 'techniques'. The more you practice and the quicker/atheletic you are, the better you will get. But over all it was a fun experience to play with 'swords' ;).