A seven-year-old boy from the city has won the silver medal in the Kumite event and a bronze medal in the Kata event at the International Karate Open Championship held in Malaysia in the first week of September. Pattapu Raghava, who lost to a nine-year-old opponent from Thailand, was the youngest participant in the 23-country meet. The competition as held at Putrajaya Sports Complex in Sepang, Malaysia. Raghava beat competitors from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Australia and Indonesia in the earlier rounds.
Raghava is a Class II student of AMS LAB School in the city and trains at the Yamaguchi Karate Academy at YMCA, Narayanguda. His parents, Pattapu Mohan and Anupama Gandhi, are residents of Padma Colony in Nallakunta. The seven-year-old karate champ won a gold medal before in the Kotak International Champion-ship in Delhi and two gold medals at the Rishyikan International Championship in Chennai. He won the Hyderabad Open Karate meet too.