Muhammad Ashraf Tai is a martial arts grandmaster, a 10th degree Dan (Black Belt), the 2-time Afro-Asian Martial Arts Champion (1978-1979), the 9-time

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Karate Champion, and one of the most famous Grandmasters in

's history.

Biography

Ashraf Tai was born on 1947 in a Burmese Muslim family and is a direct descendant of

Hatim al-Tai Hatim al-Tai (, 'Hatim of the Tayy tribe'; died 578), full name Ḥātim bin ʿAbd Allāh bin Saʿd aṭ-Ṭāʾiyy () was an Arab knight, chieftain of the Tayyi tribe of Arabia, ruler of Shammar, and poet who lived in the last half of the si ...

. His family left Burma and migrated to

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

(now Bangladesh) after the government there nationalised everything and all assets owned by the family were consequently taken away. However, after a civil war broke out in East Pakistan, Tai moved to

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

in 1970 and settled in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. He describes his first days in Karachi as having been spent on "looking for work". He came across a person who happened to be a bodybuilder. Having achieved a black belt in the

Bando Bando (, ) is a defensive unarmed martial art from Myanmar. Bando is sometimes mistakenly used as a generic word for all Burmese martial arts, but it is only one martial art; Burmese fighting systems collectively are referred to as ''Thaing (bu ...

style in Burma at the age 16, it was here where Tai's interest in martial arts sustained. Gradually, he began to teach martial arts to students at Hill Park which improved his financial situation and also promoted his reputation. As a pioneer of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

in Pakistan, he laid the foundation of Pakistan Karate Federation, and succeeded in having the body affiliated with the

Pakistan Olympic Association Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), also known as the National Olympic Committee of Pakistan (NOC; , acronym: POA), is the national Olympic organization in Pakistan. It was established in 1948 to oversee the active participation of the newly ind ...

as well as the Pakistan Sports Board. He serves as the Secretary General of the Pakistan Karate Federation. Having received numerous awards in various continents of the world during his illustrious career, he was declared the International Grand Master of the Year in 2000 by the US International Grandmasters Council, an institution based in the United States. In 2003, Ashraf Tai was awarded the

Pride of Performance The Pride of Performance (), officially known as the Presidential Pride of Performance, is an award bestowed by the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan to recognize people with "notable achievements in the field of art, science, literature, sp ...

by President

General Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and :Pakistan Army ...

for his contribution to

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

in Pakistan.Karate Awards
'' Pakistan Sports Board'' In 2012, Ashraf Tai was again awarded the

by President

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having held the same office from 2008 to 2013. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the ...

for his contribution to

. The Tai's Bando Karate Centre, founded by him in 1971, has already trained thousands of martial artists. The branches of his centres have not only been functioning with great success all over the country but the students trained by him have also been operating the centres named after him in quite a few countries like the United States, England, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, France, the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The pioneer of Bando in Pakistan, Ashraf Tai holds the distinction of claiming the highest degree (10th Dan) in the martial arts history of the country. Only a handful of martial artists have matched his feat worldwide.

Personal life

Ashraf Tai is married to Samina Shah. She is his second wife. They have four children: Maham, Ali, Abbas Tai and Mishal .

Fight career

Tai started karate at the age of 9 with Lee Phow Shin. He got his black belt at the age of 16. He started participating in local tournaments; most of which were professional. Tai branched off into full-contact karate and kickboxing. After compiling an impressive streak of knockout victories in Pakistan, Ashraf Tai competed in the 1978 Afro-Asia Martial Arts Championship. He created a sensation by overpowering Stanley Michael of Malaysia in the finals to win the Afro-Asia Championship. A year later, Tai defeated Japan's Koha Yash by a points decision. After emerging triumphant in a tournament staged in Sri Lanka in 1980, Tai took his undefeated kickboxing record of 45–0–0 (44 knockouts, 33 in the first round) into a title shot at reigning world lightheavyweight kickboxing champion, Don Wilson of the United States. Tai traveled to Tokyo, Japan to fight Wilson. The title bout was televised live on primetime Japanese network television (ASHAI). 11,000 kickboxing fans attended the championship bout. In the first round, Ashraf Tai surprised Wilson by attacking from a traditional karate stance; Tai backed up the champion with a spinning back fist. However, in the second round, Don Wilson rebounded and knocked out Tai at 1:56 of the round. Following his defeat to Don Wilson, Ashraf Tai retired from active competition.

Professional kickboxing record

Controversy

In 2017, Ashraf Tai admitted that he had received $500,000 for losing an exhibition fight against German opponent Howard Jackson in 1983. However, he went on to clarify that the fight was neither a 'title fight' nor it was fought under Pakistani flag. Further his wife also claimed that he takes advantages of female pupils problems and narrowly escaped death due to a drug addiction. Ashraf however denied the charge claiming instead that he and his wife are going through a separation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tai, Ashraf Living people Pakistani male kickboxers Recipients of the Pride of Performance Pakistani male karateka Martial artists from Karachi Pakistani people of Arab descent Burmese emigrants to Pakistan 1947 births 20th-century Pakistani sportsmen