You’ve probably heard of Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu. But that’s passé now. Today, right here in Goa, we have our very own expert in the latest form of self-defense training called Krav Maga. His name is Elroy Vaz, his parents live in Calangute and he holds the position of being Regional Director and Lead Instructor at Krav Maga Global (KMG) – India. He trains 8-13 hours a day. What’s really special about Elroy is that once a year he travels to Israel and trains directly (with other Global Regional Directors) under the current Grand Master of Krav Maga Global, Eyal Yanilov. All the new techniques that he learns, he constantly brings back to Goa…and India. Here’s an article about his work that appeared in the Mid-day newspaper, in Mumbai.
Elroy Vaz. Regional Director India – KMG
For those who haven’t heard of Krav Maga Global, here’s a brief overview.
Krav Maga is a self-defense system. It was created by Imi Lichtenfeld a Hungarian-born Israeli martial artist. When riots broke out in Lichtenfeld’s residential locality in Budapest in the 1930s, Lichtenfeld helped to defend his Jewish neighborhood against racist gangs. To prepare his companions for those real-life combat situations he began developing a system of techniques for practical self-defense to be used in life-threatening situations. That self-defense system began to be called Krav Maga. (The Israeli word Krav means “combat” and the word ‘maga‘ means “contact.” Today it has evolved into a full-fledged military self-defense system developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli security forces (Shin Bet and Mossad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J6YZBKDEnI
Eyal Yanilov began practicing Krav Maga in 1974, at the age of 15, directly and personally under Imi Lichenfield. Eventually, Yanilov became Lichtenfeld’s closest student. Lichtenfeld personally awarded Yanilov both the Founder’s Diploma of Excellence and the then-unprecedented rank of Expert Level 8 – the highest rank in Krav Maga.
Eyal Yanilov went on to create the new curriculum called Krav Maga Global (KMG). Today KMG has its trainers and communities all over the world. Elroy Vaz is the Regional Director -India. Elroy lives in Calangute, Goa. In Goa itself, his organization conducts classes regularly for individuals in Panaji, Porvorim, Mapusa, Margao, and Vasco.
Elroy Vaz and his organization have been known to conduct Krav Maga Training for various different types of people in Goa and all over India. Among professional security personnel, he has imparted training to Force 1 (the Mumbai Police Anti-Terror Squad), the STF Commandos of The CSF (Atomic Energy), the NPA where he has trained IPS Officers, and Air Marshalls of the NSGI. He has also trained the Eagle Force ATS Unit of Goa Police.
In the corporate space, he has conducted workshops for HP, Intel, Infosys, etc. His self-defense training has also reached the women students of St Xavier’s College, Goa. In fact, women are some of his most serious students.
According to Elroy, the KMG system of self-defense teaches you to deal with your own primal fear and respond to life-threatening situations with confidence in your ability to diffuse the situation and protect yourself and your loved ones. Students develop not just physical confidence in self-defense but they also develop an all-around confidence in themselves and begin to learn more about who they really are and what they can achieve in so many different walks of life. He has found his students changing their diets, giving up smoking and drinking, and improving in studies and family relationships. They all say, it’s because of their Krav Maga training and we’re happy to hear that.
61 yr. old Donald Fernandez, living in Porvorim, for example, has been practicing and training in KMG for the past 6 months now. He says it makes him feel young and alive.
For more information, about Krav Maga Global (KMG) visit
The website: www.krav-maga.com
Or their India Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KravMagaGlobalIndia/
Or Elrov Vaz’s Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/elroy.vaz.7
Or call Elroy Vaz in Goa, at 9820059070 / 9821273715.
