Hyderabad: Warangal police in Telangana have set a new world record by conducting the largest self-defence class at a single venue where 21,276 college girls and working women took part.
Girls from city colleges as well as some from foreign countries and working women were given training in self-defence techniques at the event held yesterday, Warangal police commissioner G Sudheer Babu said.
The event at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium lasted 52 minutes. With participation of 21,276 girl students and working women, it entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 'largest self-defence class at a single venue category', the commissioner said.
The earlier record with 2,212 participants had been set at a Krav Maga lesson organised by the South American Krav Maga Federation at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 29, 2010. Krav Maga is a self-defence system developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The new record was announced after verification by representatives of the Guinness Book of World Records. "The idea was to create awareness among girl students and women about the self-defence techniques. We imparted training of 15 self-defence techniques to enable them tackle situations like chain snatching, bag snatching...how to defend oneself from eve-teasers even though the girl does not know anything about martial arts," Sudheer Babu said.
With multinational firms looking to set up store in Warangal, the second fastest growing city in Telangana after Hyderabad, the commissioner said safety of women employees was a prime concern.
"Safety of women (employees) is prime concern of Information Technology firms," he said, adding that if security was taken care of, more and more firms will come to the city.
