Karate senpai Doyeeta

Seventh grader Doyeeta Binte Din is both a student and a teacher. She is a student in the capital's Viqarunnisa Noon School and a coach for karate at three schools.

The Black Belt holder karate senpai (a junior martial arts instructor) took her training at National Sports Council. "Though I'm a student of seventh grade, students from eighth or ninth grades too bow to me while I instruct them. Age does not matter in karate," she says.

How could she manage to train others despite having school? She mentions her teachers were always cooperative and she had special permission for karate. So, she can manage her studies and lessons simultaneously.

Is she capable of defending herself if ever attacked? "We are trained to remain alert. Anything can happen at any moment and I know the techniques of retaliation or attack," she said. The techniques are important to remember taking the attackers' age, weight and number in consideration. "I'm confident that I can save myself in any situation."

Doyeeta's mother Sayda Sultana has inspired her to take karate training. "When I was a child, every day on my way to school I saw ad of an wushu (Chinese martial arts) school on a poster ," Sayda said adding that though she asked her parents to enroll her for wushu training, they could not do so for social circumstances.

Doyeeta started learning karate when she was a student of grade one. She also learned Judo and so far won six gold and three silver medals. She dreams to participate in South Asian Games. Currently being trained under sensei Din Islam, she soon wants to compete in India and Nepal.

Her father Din Mohammad Shibly is a documentary photographer while her mother is an entrepreneur.

Doyeeta's passion for karate is embodied through her mother's observation that "Karate is no longer a hobby for children today, but a necessity, especially for girls."

*This piece, originally published in Prothom Alo's print edition, has been rewritten here in English by Nusrat Nowrin.