Hanshi Sapan B Chakraborty was born in 1962 at Calcutta (India). At the age of seven he started with Kung Fu in the Calcutta’s China Market. In 1971, he started learning Judo. At the age of 12 he migrated to Rangoon (Burma). There he took to learning Taekwando. After practicing Taekwando for 2 years he moved to their local art Muay Thai-Boxing. Simultaneously he started off with Kyo Kushin Kai.
At the age of 17, he traveled back to Calcutta to practice Shoto Kan & Aikido. Later, after a year and a half, he moved to Mumbai in the state Maharashtra. Shihan, a trainee of Shihan Bobby Lowe, Chief Instructor, and Executive Administrator of “Hawaii Branch Kyo Kushin Kai”, visited his Dojo. Shihan also practiced the Indian traditional Martial Arts “Kalaripattu”
After having stayed in Mumbai for another 2 years, he moved to Pune. He founded the Kyo Kushin Club in the year 1982, as there was no Kyo Kushin club available at that time. Thereafter, he became the President of Indian Karate Do KyoKushin Kai (IKK).
Many students aspired to join this club but could not go on for a longer time due to the severe practice. Therefore Kyo Kushin had to struggle to spread its branches.
Due to Hanshi’s efforts of starting new Dojos all over Maharashtra, Kyo Kushin could spread widely. Hanshi successfully participated in a number of national tournaments held all over the country, winning almost all, amounting to 22 victories.
In 1989, Hanshi visited Shihan Kenny in South Africa.
17th March 1992, Hanshi traveled to Australia, to visit Shihan John Taylor’s “Headquarter, Australian Kyo Kushin Karate IKO”
In 1992, he joined International Federation of Karate (IFK) headed by Hanshi Steve Arneil who himself sent an invitation to join IFK. Indian Karate Do Kyo Kushin Kai got affiliated to IFK in the same year.
On the 20th September 1992 he set a new world record by breaking 12 slabs of ice measuring 5.5 x 4.4 inches with his bare forehead in a single stroke and won himself a coveted place in the “Limca Book of World Records”.
In the month of September 1992, Hanshi, the only Indian, set a record by successfully completing 50 Men Kumite. All Fighters of different styles of Karate from Shodan to Yondan grades fought for 2 minutes each in which Hanshi defeated each of the fighters. Moreover, he accomplished this feat without getting injured or any casualties.
Overcoming the impossible, he broke his own record, by breaking 13 slabs of Ice in March 1993, with his bare forehead in a single stroke.
He would not stop at this. In Dec. 1994, he successfully completed 50 Men Kumite once again.
He was then awarded the HachiDan by the Indian Karate community in recognition of his service to the art and for his work to promote Kyokushin Karate around the country and the world.