Mangalore, July 14: ‘United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame’ is being awarded to Cheetah Yajnesh Shetty, a famed Bollywood stuntman who hails from Karkala. He is the first Indian to receive this honour.
Speaking to press persons here on Monday July 14, Shetty said, “With parents’ blessings and god’s grace, I have been able to reach this position. I recently received the ‘United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame’ award and I am proud to break this news in my hometown first.”
“I run a fitness federation by name ‘Chitah Jeet Kune-Do Global Sports Federation’, which provides fitness training to many students, Bollywood stars and especially to women. I have been selected for thousands of nominations because of my dedication; discipline, confidence, patronage, sacrifice and martial arts skills,” he added.
The award was announced by Prof Marty Cale, US Hall of Fame director, International Martial Arts Council of America Board of Directors. The award ceremony was held at St Louis, Missouri Sheraton City Central Hall on June 21.
“Due to short notice, I was unable to attend the ceremony and hence my master GM Richard Bustillo received the award on my behalf. He will be in India soon with my prestigious award,” he said.
“I have plans for starting up a martial arts training school in Mangalore as well, but the location has not been finalized. I also plan to direct a movie on martial arts, for which shooting will being in September or October,” he informed.
Bollywood actors like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Karishma Kapoor and others have received training from Shetty. He has trained almost 150 movie stars, a feat which is going to enter in the Guinness Book of World Record.
