Odisha tribal boy Babulu Munda bagged silver medal in the 7th World Junior Wushu Championships, held at Brasilia, Brazil from July 10-16, 2018. India bagged as many as four silver and five bronze medals in this championship.

Babulu won the silver in 42kg sub-junior sanshou event. He lost to Mohanad Emad Mohamed Bekhit of Egypt in the final 0-2. Earlier he beat Yasin Shahraki of (IRI) 2-0 in the semifinals. Before the World Junior, Bablu underwent training in China.

The 13-year-old, who belongs to a tribal family of Sialijoda village in Deojhar gram panchayat under Joda block, got his initial training under international kick-boxer and coach Pankaj Kumar Mahanta. had secured a silver medal in the 17th National Sub-Junior Wushu Championships at Jammu & Kashmir in March earlier in the year.

Babulu lost his father when he was just six-years-old while his mother got married again. He now lives with his mother and grandmother. Bablu is being provided sponsorship by Jindal Steel & Power Limited for his training and participating in national and international tournaments.

At the age of six, Bablu bagged a silver at the 16th State Kick-boxing Championships in Bhubaneswar in 2011. Till 2016 he had won 12 medals, which included seven gold, a silver and four bronze medals. The tribal kid, who is a Class VIII student of Government Nodal School in Barbil, since then has won five more medals to take his tally to 17 while participating in 21 state and national meets.