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Nine standout martial artists from Tri-Valley Karate competed at the national championships in Texas this July and brought 13 medals home to Pleasanton.
Leading the way for the local dojo was 17-year-old Govardan Vadlaputi, who won national titles in both kata (forms) and kumite (spars) in his division. He was among three gold medalists from the Tri-Valley at the 2025 Karate National Championships & U.S. Junior Team Trials in Fort Worth, Texas from July 9-13.
“Preparing for karate nationals over the past few months was a challenging but rewarding experience. It pushed me to stay focused and disciplined while improving both mentally and physically,” Vadlaputi said in a statement.
Harshini Uppalapati, 14, won gold in kumite and earned silver in kata, and 14-year-old Rishi Manikandan took the other national championship for Tri-Valley Karate in kumite on top of a bronze in kata.
Dojo owner and teacher Sanjit Mandal told the Weekly that the achievements of his national champions and their six teammates in Texas were a testament to their efforts in training throughout the year.
“These young athletes demonstrated incredible focus, resilience, and teamwork on and off the mat, proudly representing both our community and USA Karate on a national stage,” Mandal said.
“What people don’t know is that we spend countless hours training, refining details, and we only perform for maybe 2 minutes,” he added. “Some might only get one sparring match, which is also 2 minutes, unlike other sports where they have a game that lasts an hour or a tennis match that could last well over 2 hours, a very different type of competition.”
Other local medalists included Ami Mandal (9) with a silver in kumite, Hridyansh Gorsia (10) and Atiriya Belagodu (13) each with silver in kata, and Jocelyn O’Dell (15) and Sai Gautam Chippada (16) with bronze medals in both kata and kumite. Akhila Chippada (12) also competed from the Tri-Valley, finishing fifth in kumite and seventh in kata.
