Bangladeshi martial artist Shamima Akhtar Tulee has been awarded the “Highest Dan Winner Female Karateka” in Bangladesh accolade.
State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel MP gave her the certificate and honor of “6th Dan” degree at the Mujib Centenary Black Belt Award 2022 ceremony, organized by Bangladesh Martial Arts Confederation.
Tulee is currently recognized as the highest “Dan” female karateka in the Bangladesh karate arena.
She was awarded for her contribution in the field of women's self defence, health awareness and karate.
Earlier, Tulee made history by winning medals in international karate.
She participated at the Kata event in the “Veteran” category of Ozawa Cup International Karate Tournament, the biggest traditional karate competition held in Las Vegas, United States of America, and won a bronze medal.
Besides, Tulee's only son Tahsin Shaun Leon also won two bronze medals in the 18-30 years category in Kata and Kumite events.
Over 900 karatekas from 30 countries participated in the tournament.
This was the first time a Bangladeshi woman participated in the “Women Veteran” category in an international tournament, where mother and son eventually achieved three medals together.
Tulee was one of five martial artists from all over the world who represented the Fifth Martial Arts Research Initiative for Experts program 2022, organized by UNESCO's International Centre of Martial.
She is the first athlete from Bangladesh to participate in this competitive and prestigious research program.
Since its establishment in 2017, ICM has created 25 alumni from 17 countries including Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America.
Alumni of the research program will later work as local representatives of their own country, so Tulee wishes that she will be able to represent Bangladesh's status and dignity in the world.
Moreover, by working with international organizations such as UNESCO and ICM, Tulee hopes to play an exemplary role in the youth and women martial arts sector, and to reduce the limitations of the sport sector of Bangladesh.
Besides, Tulee is the first Bangladeshi woman to receive black belt in “Shotokan” Karate.
She became the national karate champion before turning 18.
From 1989 to 1993, she held the national championship for five consecutive times.
Tulee is internationally trained in Yoga, Pilates, Fitness Training, Stress Management, Krav Maga and Shaolin Kung Fu from America, Australia, India, Thailand, Malaysia and China, and the most certified female exercise consultant in Bangladesh.
For the last 20 years, she has been training more than 10,000 members in her own exercise organization “Combat Gym by Tulee”, conducting health exercise programs on television and writing features on daily newspapers.
Besides, she released three DVDs named “Yoga for Kids and Everyone” and “Fun Workout Using Props” for children and “Workout for Teens-Family and Friends” for teenagers.
Marking the 50 years of Bangladesh's independence and Bangabandhu's birth centenary, Tulee's first exercise book “Will I gain weight if I stop exercising?!” was published at the Ekushey Book Fair 2021.
Tulee completed her graduation and postgraduation from the English literature department of Dhaka University.
She is the youngest of six children of “Ratnagarbha Ma Award” winning mother.
All her siblings are involved in medical and teaching profession in various reputed institutes of the country but Tulee has chosen an exceptional lifestyle of an exerciser.
Her effort is to make the people of the country interested in physical fitness.
Meantime, Tulee was diagnosed with Noncirrhotic Portal Hypertension disease during the birth of her son Tahsin.
Since then, she has been determined to set an example with her own life on how to fight the disease and move forward in life by keeping the body and mind active through exercise.
In this regard, Tulee said, "In the beginning, I did not get any support from my family. There were even sharp disputes on various issues. The traditional thinking my family was that only institutional education is at the root of everything. Doing anything else outside of studies will spoil the studies. But I would say to women that setbacks will come but you have to face these and move forward."
