Mysuru: City karateka Deia Urs, pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree at a city college, has bagged Bronze Medal in the Senior Female Individual Kata category at the Senior National Karate Championships held at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on June 10 and 11.

The Championship was organised by the Karate Association of India (KAI), the only recognised National Federation for Karate in India, which is affiliated to the Indian Olympic Association.

With this win, Deia becomes the first female ever from Karnataka to win a medal at the KAI Senior Karate Championship in Female Individual Kata.

She had a tough draw and was pooled along with current Senior National Champion Valena Valentina in the qualifiers.

After the preliminary eliminations, a group of 16 karatekas were divided into two pools.

Contestants had to perform in their respective groups and, three contestants in each group who scores the highest points qualify for the finals.

Deia qualified for the finals by securing 24.82 points and being placed second in her group, while Valena Valentina stood first by securing 25.34 points.

However in the finals, experienced Valena Valentine of Odisha won the Gold, Raja Rajeshwari of Tamil Nadu took the Silver while, Deia along with Shradha Dharadhar of Maharashtra settled for the Bronze.

Karnataka had a tally of 2 Silver and 2 Bronze Medals. Others to win medals are, Shalini (-55 kg) and Rachana Siddesh (-61 kg) of Bengaluru, Silver medals in Female Kumite while, Amal Sooraj (+84 Kg) took Bronze in the Male Kumite Category.

Deia Urs, who holds black belt degrees in three different karate styles, is trained by her father B.S. Srinath Urs. Both practice under All India Shito Ryu Karate Do Union President Kyoshi C.S. Arun Machaiah, who is also the Vice-President of KAI and Shihan E.S. Kumar, who is the Deputy Technical Director of KAI.