Rupa Bayor in India, her coach in Korea: How an Arunachal athlete became an international Taekwondo star

(September 22, 2024) Ranked 11th globally and second in Asia, Rupa Bayor boasts an impressive track record, having won multiple medals at prestigious events such as the South Asian Games, Australian Open, Croatia Open, and various other international competitions.

This year, Rupa made history by winning a bronze medal at the 8th Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championship in Danang, Vietnam, marking India’s first-ever medal in the Senior 1 individual Poomsae (a defined pattern of defence-and-attack forms) event. “I want to thank my coach, Abhishek Dubey, who inspired me to dream big and achieve this milestone,” she said after her win.

Rupa’s list of achievements includes a gold medal at the World Taekwondo President Cup Europe 2023, where she became the first woman to medal in the Senior-1 Taekwondo Poomsae category at a WT grade 2 ranked event. She also won silver medals at the Oceania Open WT G2 in Brisbane, Australia, and at the World Taekwondo President Cup Oceania, as well as a bronze at the Australian Open.

Rupa Bayor and Abhishek Dubey

Rupa’s coach, Abhishek, a medal-winning athlete himself, has represented India in multiple sports events and is now involved in managing major events and elite athletes from his base in Seoul.

Athlete in India, coach in Korea 

Abhishek’s most recent assignment has been as an organising committee member of the South Korea’s ‘Gangwon 2024’ Winter Youth Olympic Games serving as a communications/NOC services manager.  He has been coaching Rupa online, helping her secure medals and become the first Indian athlete to break into the top 15 of the World Taekwondo rankings.

“My coach is helping me in every way possible,” Rupa said in an interview. “He lives in South Korea but still manages to find time in his busy schedule to train me remotely. He can’t leave his job and come back just to train me, so I train online. Both of us are giving our best. I believe if my coach were with me, I would have performed even better,” added the athlete who considers her coach her biggest strength. “I trust him more than I trust myself. If he says I can defeat an opponent, I can do it. Without him, I don’t think I would have achieved much.”

From obscurity of Arunachal Pradesh to international stage

Rupa’s journey to becoming a Taekwondo champion has been inspiring. Starting with little knowledge of the sport, she has risen to prominence through her talent, dedication and hard work. Despite the challenges of training remotely with her coach, she has consistently excelled.

She is associated with the Indo Korean Taekwondo Academy in Mumbai which was founded by Abhishek Dubey in 2007. He has trained numerous Taekwondo aspirants since then.

Since Rupa lacked proper training facilities in Arunachal Pradesh, she moved to Mumbai in 2021 to train at his academy. However, the high cost of living in Mumbai made it difficult for her to make ends meet. It was then that Abhishek offered her a scholarship through his academy, which Rupa describes as life-changing.

Later, with the support of Mumbai headquartered Indian conglomerate Welspun World, her journey took off, starting with her participation in the Croatia Open as her first international event. Winning a medal there boosted her confidence immensely, and she has been grateful for Welspun’s support ever since.

Rupa Bayor

Aimed for a constable job, became a world champion

Reflecting on her humble beginnings, Rupa who took up the sport at the age of 15 shared, “I had never heard of Taekwondo. It’s not well-known in the villages.” Like other children in Arunachal’s village Sippi, she spent most of her childhood farming with her mother. Her father had passed away when she was a child. As a single parent, her mother worked hard to raise Rupa and her siblings.

Her uncle, who is a district Karate master, encouraged her to take up Karate initially. Later he encouraged her to switch to Taekwondo as he felt that the sport has more potential. Within a short period of time, Rupa started showing good progress, and her mother sent her to Itanagar for training.

“I started Taekwondo thinking that if I won a medal, I could secure a constable job. That’s the mindset in my area—no one had gone far in the sport, so they didn’t know much about it. I never thought I would become a professional in Taekwondo,” the athlete remarked.

Her first tournament was at The National School Games in Pune. Although she lost the tournament, she gained exposure, which helped her in honing her skills.

Her first international competition was the Kim Un Yong Cup in South Korea, where she faced defeat due to her lack of experience on the global stage. Later that year, she participated in the South Asian Games, securing a silver medal. However, the pandemic caused a two-year hiatus in her playing career.

Mumbai proved lucky

In February 2021, Rupa relocated to Mumbai to improve her performance at the medal-winning coach Abhishek Dubey’s Indo Korean Taekwondo Academy. Her initial plan was to move to Mumbai for two months, but realised that it was insufficient time to practise as learning is a continuous and massive process to become a top athlete at the international level.

She is thankful to her coach Abhishek Dubey and Welspun World’s Super Sport Women Program for providing support to extend her training period.

“I made sure to do justice to my coach’s efforts by training six days a week for approximately 12 hours a day for more than 15 months at Indo Korean Taekwondo Academy,” she shared. This led to her several medal-winning performances representing India internationally.

Rupa Bayor

Arunachal’s pride

On her short visits home, the athlete receives a lot of love and attention from the people there. “They are happy to see a woman representing their village and Arunachal Pradesh on a national and global scale.

Coming from a humble background, the girl who once aimed to win medals just to secure a constable’s job now dreams of bringing more laurels to India. She hopes to promote and teach Taekwondo to children in her village, aspiring to create champions for India, just as her coach helped her become one.

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