Hyper-flexible boy amazes villagers with his bendy body
By Kanika Dhupar @kanika_kd
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Videographer / director: Shams Qari
Producer: Haziq Qadri, Ellie Winstanley
Editor: Joshua Douglas
Living near Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, India, 13-year-old Aditya has spent eight years honing his contortionist and yoga skills.
His condition, hypermobility, has amazed his parents and friends, but Aditya wants to use it to his advantage and carve his name into the Guinness Book of World records.
Aditya credits his crazy twisting skills to his coach - Mangesh Kopker - who has been training him for eight years.
He said: “I have been practising contortion for eight years and my coach has taught me the technicality and intricacies involved in performing these moves.”
His bendy moves never worried his parents. Amazed by their child’s skills - they never took him to a doctor, instead they took him Mangesh Kopker, Aditya’s coach of eight years.
His mum, Pranali Prakash Jangum, is so used to Aditya’s moves that she does not bat an eyelid when she sees her boy join the family for meals at the lunch table.
Happy to perform for an audience around his house or at the academy, Aditya is a celebrity of sorts in the locality. He said, “I am extremely happy with my flexibility and want to earn a name for myself using my abilities in future.”
Nicknamed the Snake Boy, his friends and family think he is a superstar.
Aditya’s signature moves include contorting his legs so far backwards that they rest on his shoulders.
His flexibility may have been nature’s gift, but it took him two to three years of extreme hard work to achieve excellence.
Nowhere close to ‘perfection,’in his own words, Aditya said, “I required a lot of help in the initial year, now not so much. I am still not close to perfection.”
Coach Mangesh Kopker has been training Aditya for the last eight years.
Kopker trains 20 to 30 kids in his academy, ‘but no one is as flexible as Aditya.'
Aditya’s coach wants to mentor this teen into a world-famous contortionist.
Impressed with Aditya’s skill, Kopker pays special attention to this bendy boy, courtesy his Practice, Patience and Perseverance, at such a young age.
Kopker said, “Aditya has never bunked or missed a single practise session.”
“With so much passion and flexibility, I want Aditya to scale greater heights each day.”
Dedicated and passionate to the core, this bendy boy aims to register his name in the Guinness Book of World Records, and make his family and coach super proud.