Episode 3 Natural Born Winners

What does it take to be the best?

Around the world, sports steeped in tradition create their champions.

Men who master speed...

SWORDS CLASH

..skill, endurance...

and the will to win.

Four modern sporting heroes are about to put themselves to the test.

HE SCREAMS

Gareth Thomas, Welsh rugby legend.

You don't wanna lose. Nobody wants to lose.

It hurts.

Donovan Bailey, the Olympic gold medal sprinter.

Every single day I get up and I have a goal.

James Toseland, two-times world Superbike champion.

There's always a will to win. I hate losing. I've always hated losing.

But I'm not planning on losing.

And Iwan Thomas,

whose British 400-metre record has never been broken.

I've always been a competitor.

I think I always will have that natural need to win.

THEY PLAY DRUMS

They'll travel to the four corners of the Earth...

GONG IS HIT

Wow, look at that.

..to take on some of the world's great challenges.

SWORDS CLASH

Whoa.

Super dangerous.

Guys like me on death row.

They're about to find out who's got what it takes...

This is combat.

..to triumph against the odds.

Can he handle it all? Can he handle it all?

They'll compete to be the best.

I love it. I didn't realise how much I missed it.

But who will crumble?

HE SCREAMS

I'm not in. You're not in? I'm not in, no.

HE GROANS

I just want to die.

And who's got what it takes to win?

That is the scariest thing I have ever done.

In their second sporting test...

Look at that, it's packed. Whoa.

..the four men were in Turkey to face an ancient challenge.

This is real. This is combat.

Oil wrestling.

Iwan struggled to master the moves.

Knock 'em dead, fellas.

Donovan quit halfway through training.

I'm 100% in or I'm 100% out.

And while James, with one victory to his name,

fought hard in the final showdown...

I really hate losing.

..it was Gareth who lasted longest in his fight.

Come on Gareth, that's it, that's it!

I enjoyed what I did.

Now the sportsmen are travelling to Kerala, Southern India.

Hello. How are you?

Drive on, drive.

Gareth and James, with one win each, are the first to arrive.

Look at that, Hotel Benzy Palace.

And they're heading far off the tourist trail to Calicut.

This industrial city is home

to one of India's most famous fighting schools.

Run by masters of the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu.

Look at that, three on a moped.

Oh, my God.

This is definitely not pretend any more.

THEY LAUGH

It's such a different, like, way of living, the culture, the people.

I've been told some horror stories about Delhi Belly

and "Watch what you eat and drink" and all that, but, um,

but other than that, my first impressions have been really nice.

For the next week,

the four sportsmen will study this unique form of combat.

Considered one of the oldest fighting systems in existence,

it's said to be the root of all martial arts

and is practised all over India.

Its mix of acrobatic moves and lethal weaponry

requires extreme agility, precision and control.

The boys will train in three key disciplines

with local Kalari champions

before they finally go head-to-head in combat...with each other.

Iwan's due in tomorrow and former Olympic sprinter Donovan has

joined them from Canada, and they're getting to know the town.

You know what's funny?

I bet you any money this is really healthy for these guys.

Maybe they live to be 100. Who knows?

Martial arts is something that I think is pretty awesome.

I think that every kid has that kung fu-type, Bruce Lee-type thing

and we're four boys, really, and we're trapped in men's bodies.

Can I have three teas, buddy?

Three teas?

Oh, you speak the lingo?

He speaks the language, he knew exactly what you wanted.

It's JT. JT does everything.

Not clams, just a tea, buddy, please.

It's like this big Welsh guy walking down the street and everyone,

like, stops and they just literally, like, stare.

I have never felt so out of place in my entire life.

Outside of sport, my, my, like, frame doesn't match my personality.

The reality is not this big, imposing person who is, like, tough.

Some people expect my personality to match what they see.

And cos I know it doesn't, then, you know, it kind of intimidates me.

We really do stand out, don't we?

Yes, we do.

Oh, my God.

You're not enjoying this, are you, pal?

I don't know, it's just not me, like.

You like the beach and you like sand.

And the sea.

Yeah, in Wales.

And a cup of tea.

Imagine if it was a Saturday, maybe it would be packed even more.

THEY LAUGH

The boys will be spending their first night in India...

Oh, boys, that's a lush breeze, isn't it?

..on a Keralan houseboat.

Are you looking forward to the martial arts, then, kid?

It's going to be kick-ass tough, right,

that we're going to be beating crap into each other,

but make an oath before we've even learnt it that, whatever we have

to do as the final challenge, the fight in it, you're going to do it.

Are you saying that I'm not giving it 100?

Er, no, I'm not saying that, I'm saying that I want you to fight it.

I want to see Donovan Bailey from the track.

So, make your vow.

Which heart? That one, that heart.

The real heart or the other heart?

The real heart. The real Donovan Bailey 1996 heart.

I thought it was quite interesting to have him

put a pledge out there that, regardless of whether he can

or can't do it, he's going to stick with it till the end.

ANNOUNCER: Olympic champion and gold-medallist representing Canada,

Donovan Bailey.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I want to do something that gets me completely out of my comfort zone.

Maybe it's a new challenge, maybe it's testing myself.

And in order to do that,

you definitely have to do things that are outside your realm.

It's 8am and the temperature is already hitting 30 degrees.

Tell you what, that's a special view in the morning.

Beautiful.

It's too hot, though, it just makes you feel lazy.

Need to get cracking doing something today. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Iwan Thomas, the former 400-metre sprinter has arrived from London.

Here he is. All right. It's only 40 degrees.

All right, man? Hello, mate. All right, buddy. What's up, dude?

How are you, mate? Nice to see you.

We're all different shapes and sizes,

so every sport has its advantages and disadvantages for each individual,

so I think it'll be interesting to see what it's all about

and who's going to come out on top. Probably JT.

He's probably been to Kalari school when he was 12 in Sheffield, but, er, we'll see.

This is a bit of a blank page, this one.

Well, they're all quite small, apparently, so JT's good. THEY LAUGH

The boys have one week to see how well they can master Kalari

and who will triumph in combat.

They'll be trained by Kalari master Sunil Kumar.

His ancestors have helped to preserve the martial art through the generations.

Ah! THE CHILDREN SCREAM

Nice to meet you? You know Kalari?

HE MAKES KARATE NOISES

You know the sport, you know?

What have you got?

THE CHILDREN SCREAM

THEY LAUGH

His Kalari school is in the jungle outside Calicut.

Students begin a strict training regime

here from the age of seven.

And some of master Sunil's older fighters

are considered the best in India.

Hello. My name is Iwan.

I'm Sunil.

For 1,000 years, the training areas have been dug

out of the earth to keep fighters cool in the intense heat.

Oh, it's quite deep.

It's quite deep, yeah.

And we'll be using these shields, these weapons? Yes, yes.

I need a bit shield to hide myself from Gareth. I'm going to kick his ass.

Are they whips?

Yeah, that is...

Don't get too excited, G.

We're not in some air-conditioned, lovely gymnasium,

we're in a...tarpaulin, kind of, well, from the outside it looks kind

of like a mud hut, but the truth is it's actually beautiful inside.

Kalaripayattu was used by an elite class of warriors

specially trained to protect kings.

If their master was attacked,

they'd fight to the death using a formidable arsenal of weapons.

It looks a bit vicious when you look at the shields and the swords

and stuff, but I'm quietly quite excited about this one.

The sportsmen are about to see Kalari close up.

Hello, please be seated.

Thank you.

Master Sunil starts with the urumi, a razor-sharp,

whip-like sword unique to Kalari.

Whoa.

THE SWORDS CLASH

Look at the sparks.

Whoa!

THE SWORDS CLASH

There's sparks off the floor.

Oh, my God.

Never seen... Oh, my God. It was close, though.

See the sparks come off it?

G, I've never seen you that scared.

I don't like knives and stuff like that.

The urumi is reserved for experts only.

The sportsmen will learn three key Kalari techniques.

They'll start with a yoga-like routine

to test their flexibility and focus.

Decent, decent.

Experienced fighters can make an eight-foot jump look easy.

Oh. Yes!

They'll then learn kettukari, long stick fighting,

a lightning-fast test of mental discipline

that demands nerves of steel.

THE SWORDS CLASH

Whoa, dude.

Wow. Oh, my God.

The third and final stage is sword and shield combat.

SWORDS HIT OFF SHIELDS

THE FIGHTERS GRUNT

THEY YELP

THEY APPLAUD

Oh, man. Oh, that's serious.

We have to do that by Tuesday?

Yes, actually, but we're going to...

Instead of a sword, we can use stick.

In the final competition,

Master Sunil will have his new students fight with kettukari sticks.

The swords are just too dangerous for beginners.

It's pretty crazy.

You see the reason why... that they start very young.

The demonstration alone looks like it takes years and years and years of practice.

You might have the mind of an old athlete,

but, er, there's a reality.

This is about precision, it's about flexibility

and it's about years and years of training.

Let's have a little practice. Oh, come on, then. Ready? THEY LAUGH

See, what scares me, in all seriousness, even watching that demo

if you get one...even that, a rap round the knuckles... Yeah, like that.

Ah! IWAN LAUGHS

See, but even that hurt.

So, I mean, that... IWAN LAUGHS

Before they can start training,

the boys need to be initiated as Kalari students.

Every time you come into the Kalari, you have to pray,

you have to go through a spiritual routine.

It's not like when I was an athlete, I'd just turn up and say to the man on the gate, "All right, mate?

"Yep, just warming up!" and I'd do my little warm-up and I race,

this is more of a... A way of life.

You feel like you're part of something bigger than sport.

It's life.

The school is a sacred space.

Fighters must make offerings of flowers to the Hindu gods

and pray to protect themselves against injury.

It is a little bit weird if you're not religious

and believe in gods, um, which I really don't,

but it's important to them, so we're being taught how to do it

and this is part of it, so better respect that.

I think the most difficult thing was Donovan actually more or less

touching someone else's feet, worshipping someone's feet!

In just one week,

the boys will compete before a panel of Kalari masters.

The winner will show the greatest skill in movement, and will

have mastered stick-fighting and stick-and-shield combat.

I'll show you first, actually.

In each leg, we will balance our body,

so stay like this, then we're going to start.

Wullup nairi.

Training's begun. Wullup nairi.

'First, they'll have to memorise a 28-move sequence,

'designed to develop a fighter's combat reflexes.'

Step back and balance your body. Step forward and breathe.

It's tough. You know, stretching's always been difficult for me.

In rugby, I never focused on stretching.

Then again, start. Wullup nairi.

Wullup nairi.

I did Taekwondo when I was 11 for, like, a year,

till I got roughed up by a bigger boy and I left

and never went back, but I seem to be quite flexible still.

Step forward, balance. Close the arms.

OK, please, put your left leg in front.

Left leg in front.

Step forward and raise your right leg and balance.

Stay there, stay there. Stay there, stay there, don't jump. OK.

I knew I'd be all right with the balance, cos, you know, with riding bikes,

the balance is a big part of that, with the core strength and that,

so I knew that was all right, but I haven't got much flexibility

in my legs, though, so I couldn't kick that high.

Wullup nairi. Wullup nairi. Wullup nairi. Step forward!

Turn!

You just need to go slower.

You're going through the whole thing, it's too much to take in, I think.

'It's the same as when I was a 400-metre runner.'

You don't sprint the whole race whatsoever. I'd break it down in my head, so I'd think about,

"Right, think about your blocks, your first 30 metres, then think about down the back straight,"

and that's exactly the same principle in this sport.

For me, I just wanna break it down into sections

and then it'll become complete. So, at the moment, I'm thinking, "Just teach me the first piece

"of that jigsaw, then I'll learn the middle bit of the jigsaw

"and then hopefully, at the end, the jigsaw will form a lovely puzzle."

"I don't wanna see the big puzzle, because it's a bit scrambled."

Raise your arm, take back your left leg.

'Donovan, true to his promise, is pushing himself.'

Oh, God, I'm dying.

My hamstring's falling off, my spine is about to pop.

Like this, kick.

Clearly realising how good a life I've been living

and I probably need to get out and exercise a little more.

Turn!

I'm getting a sweat.

Well, I think I can do the first two.

The first two poses, yeah.

So, I can get to, like, three metres into it.

Everybody's a bit, like, at different stages at the moment.

So me and Gareth are at the same, but, well, we'll see how Iwan and Donovan's doing.

Hey, come on, you know I'm going to give it a shot.

I'm going to give it a... You know, a shot.

I think practice makes perfect and, at the end of it, you know,

I might surprise you and you might be a perfect ten.

While Donovan's hoping to prove his critics wrong,

Gareth's doing better than he'd expected.

I was quite surprised how quickly I picked it up,

by how it seemed, at the start, to be an impossibility to even

get, like, halfway through it, let alone to be getting to the

point of where you're getting it all the way to the end.

To give them a deeper understanding of Kalari,

Master Sunil has invited the boys to his home...

..and they've offered to pick up some fresh tuna for a classic South Indian curry.

Whose idea was this? It was my idea. Oh, nice, JT.

A tuna? The smell is quite overpowering, isn't it?

Fish is right at the heart of Keralan food and culture.

The fresh catch is brought to this market each morning.

Big prawns, aren't they?

Do you know what tuna looks like, JT? Er, yes... Big.

JT's idea was a nice one.

You know, if we could go there with a big tuna

and they can cook it for us, it'd be an authentic meal.

Whoa.

HE HEAVES

It's the little ones that make me feel squeamish.

I knew India was different to everything I'm used to,

but that, I think for anyone, that's like a crazy experience.

Claustrophobic atmosphere that's in there and, you know,

the smells are just, kind of like... It's overpowering.

Everything about it is really overpowering and, for me,

it's so far away from what I like.

I like open spaces, I like my fields, I like my fresh smells.

No way! Sharks!

Tuna? That is tuna.

JT, here's your tuna. What do you reckon, them two?

They're not very big though, are they? How much?

We might need two of them. Go on, JT, there you are, mate.

Oh, my God, you've gotta carry them like that? Oh, you're joking, man.

Oh, my God! THEY LAUGH

Hey! Don't BLEEP around. Donovan!

Go on, need to get them cut up. BLEEP!

We've gotta put them in ice, haven't we?

GROANING This is really bad.

Can we stand back a bit, cos I'm getting splattered with the blood?

I tell you what, there's a lot of fish though, there. Yeah.

It's amazing how red the flesh is on the tuna.

Yeah, that's what I was saying, looks pretty rich.

But it's all proving too much for Gareth.

Oh, my gosh, it just gets cut and put into a dirty bag.

Oh, man. You want me to stand in front of you?

My eyes are shut and they're not opening until we start to move.

Come on, pal. We're nearly there.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Let's go. Come on, G.

So, we've bought tuna to go tonight, to cook for supper,

which, again, is another brilliant thing, cos I hate fish.

So the day just gets better.

Day two of training.

The sportsmen are moving onto the next stage of their Kalari studies,

and meeting Master Sunil in the open grounds of the school for kettukari,

stick fighting.

Kettukari is considered to be the foundation of all

Kalari weapons training.

Ah!

Mate, seriously, it's time to stop.

Can I beat him with a stick?

LAUGHTER

Holy...

In Kalari, weapons are seen as an extension of the body,

and success in stick fighting relies on precise coordination

of hand and body movements.

THEY CLAP

That was pure aggression, but controlled.

They've obviously been doing it all their lives.

What worries me, initial impression, I might have my knuckles

in slightly the wrong place, Donovan might, and a little crack is going to hurt.

I'm just wondering how quick I can get my leathers, helmet,

boots and gloves to India. That was impressive. Impressive.

If I could pole vault out of here, I would.

So, please come.

So, stay like this, hold. You use your palm and most

of the time, actually, you won't move from... Both sides, actually.

Both hands must be kept on the stick at all times.

We are going to learn. All right.

And fighters are in constant eye contact

to anticipate their opponent's next move.

And forehand, like that.

So, this is defence,

and then attack, just like... What he's doing to me, basically.

Again. Look my eyes, then defend.

You've got someone coming at you with a stick,

so, if you don't concentrate, you're going to get hit.

Up, up, up.

Down. Up.

I picked it up quite quick, but I didn't have much of a choice though,

with the Charles Bronson lookalike. He came at me with that stick

like I'd just nicked a tenner off him.

He hit me once on the knee, and then once on the inside leg.

Start.

The posture's important, because it's giving you balance

and strength, so they actually get quite low and they described

it to me and explained, if you're a tall man and you stand up too tall,

your surface area's larger, you're more likely to get hit.

One! Your turn! Yeah, that's good, that's good.

When they compete, the sportsmen will be judged on two precise

sequences of attack and defence.

That I told you, this part of the cane, no?

Ah! Yeah. Sorry, man.

It's super dangerous.

Like, super on the edge, man. Super on the edge.

They think they're not hitting very hard, cos they're practising,

but actually, they are, they're hitting really hard.

Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!

In 2011, after 17 years of international rugby,

Gareth played his last game.

When you finish your career, you either step into that

and embrace it, or you're just afraid of it

and you lock yourself away, and then you can just be that,

kind of, ex-rugby player who, in time, slowly gets forgotten,

he's not kept himself evolving.

So, every day, whatever challenge comes my way,

like I did in the rugby, I try to face it and that way the next day

you can face something new, face a new challenge.

HE SHOUTS

After an hour of training, Donovan's found a good rhythm.

Ah! 'I'm learning that I don't want to get hit by a stick.'

So, I'm learning some good defence.

Now come again.

It reminds me of when I was eight, nine years old. In boarding school,

the principal would have a small bamboo stick and, yeah,

that's how you'd get punished, a couple of slaps on your butt

if you were bad. And I rarely was that bad kid,

but, I mean, I was bad at least once.

OK, all right, let's go again.

'It's precision, but you have to breathe and relax at the same time,

'so it's very much in my wheelhouse.'

Move, move!

You have to really be under control, cos 100 metres really is,

it's nine seconds, but it really is, when you're doing it,

it's like a whole week.

Whoo!

Oh, man! I didn't hit you and you didn't hit me,

so we're good, man. We're good.

The boys are making use of every spare minute before they compete.

They've come to a local beach to practise their moves.

Two steps. Right arm fold.

'I really feel we've all bonded and it's become a bit of a team,

'like we're helping each other.' That's it, yeah.

We all kind of know it, but we're not experts on it,

and Donovan is way behind.

Now, I believe in the process of learning it all together,

but we should only learn it as fast as the slowest one.

The reality is there's still a massive competitive streak

in every single one of us.

Under...kick, kick, kick.

Leave your right in there. Yes, my man!

You're getting there, man. No, but you're getting there.

Doing it together's great. Iwan, JT and Gareth are great teachers.

Like this, Donovan, now.

I will definitely give it a shot, cos I already made that promise.

Arms round, cross,

kick, kick, kick,

leave your right in there...

The new students are heading to Master Sunil's family home

on the edge of town for dinner.

DOGS BARK Oh, my God.

Hi.

It's a chance for them to get an insight into the life

of a Kalari master.

Sunil's wife, Shishira,

is preparing the tuna the boys bought at the market this morning.

We just shallow fry. Yeah.

And Iwan's lending a hand.

Here we go. Yeah. Down the hatch, as we say. Yeah.

What are they?

Shishira is putting on a sadhya, a Keralan banquet, for the guests.

It's usually entirely vegetarian and served on a banana leaf.

We are eating in this. Wow. I've never eaten off a banana leaf.

A banana leaf, no.

Dinner is served, gentlemen, dinner is served. There we go.

Thank you! Ooh, look!

Oh, God. Oh, God.

Do we eat with our hands or do you use cutlery?

Hands, we use hands, OK, yeah. Hands!

According to Southern Indian tradition...

..eating with hands feeds the mind and spirit, as well as the body.

Oh, that's nice.

It's not every day you do eat with your fingers and it's certainly

not every day you eat off banana leaves, so to combine the two was

something very different indeed, but it felt kind of OK, actually.

So like that? Mm!

I've eaten something that was spicy tonight.

I soon got a bit of a sweat on.

Gareth didn't, cos if you notice, he didn't eat anything.

He was hiding everything underneath his rice, cos he doesn't like spices or fish.

His plate was getting smaller in that way, but everything was

getting higher and higher, so he did well to hide his food.

I literally couldn't even try it,

because I knew, even by trying it and washing it down,

it was still going to be like rocket fuel in my mouth and spice.

I'm not sure if it went unnoticed, probably not.

THEY LAUGH

Banquet over, and the conversation turns to Master Sunil.

Why did you start Kalari?

I learned from my father actually, from my childhood,

seeing actually Kalari from grandfather to father.

Is it spiritual for you, do you feel?

Yeah, spiritual, exactly. spiritually, mentally and all that.

It's your whole life? Whole life.

It's when you sit down to eat, it's when you're with your family,

it's when you go to sleep, it defines your whole life.

Yeah, defines whole life.

The definition of his character is Kalari.

I love that, because I really relate to that,

because that's exactly who I was as a rugby player.

It defined who I was, it defined everything about me.

We are honoured that you are letting us try your,

more than your sport, your life, your traditions, so thank you.

Thank you. It's OK, yeah.

DOGS WHINE AND BARK

The next day brings more practice on a river bank near the Kalari school.

But later in the morning, Master Sunil's organised a unique test

of strength and agility everyone's expected to try.

Have you seen how to climb the coconut tree?

I knew you were going to do that! I've seen it on television. Never.

G is over here, so he'll show you how to climb the coconut tree,

so then, after that, you also can try that.

THEY LAUGH Oh, man!

Oh, my God.

That's amazing. He's like a koala bear.

That's got Donovan Bailey written all over it.

THEY CLAP

He's not down yet.

I nearly saw his coconuts.

SUNIL SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

Oh! Oh!

Get up there, JT. I know you can do it.

Good, good, very good.

Go on! You're getting there. Pretty good.

Only another 35 feet to go.

Come on, mate! You'll be at the top!

Shall we stand underneath him, just in case? Is it hard?

Yeah, well, I'm tired now.

Do a couple more, mate. Get halfway.

Come down slowly.

Man, my feet.

Very good! Donovan's stepping up. What an opportunity, eh?

You don't get trees like this in Southampton,

so I'm definitely going to have a go at it.

Just climb, OK, like that. Good, very good.

Oh, you've got it! Super! Come on.

Go to the top!

Come on, Iwan!

Keep going to the coconuts! How am I going to get down?

I wouldn't go there, like.

When G said, "Go on, see if you can get to the top,"

that was like a challenge set, so I had to get to the top.

Oh, man. OK, how do I get down? THEY LAUGH

It was just a little bit of a shame

that I couldn't get down with the finesse that I got up with,

cos I got up quite easily and I got down in pain.

Relax and just slide. Slowly come.

THEY LAUGH

LAUGHING: It hurts!

Yeah, please take my weight. Cor, my hands.

Good job. Good job. Good job!

Thanks, G. Ooh!

Iwan, you did it for both of us.

Oh, my days!

He did it for both of us, then.

Ouch, bud. That actually, without being soft, that hurts pretty bad.

I always see myself still as the sporty bloke,

the bloke who can normally do everything he tries.

I've always kept myself quite fit,

compared to a lot of my close friends,

so I'd like to think I'll always be like this.

I've just got to be able to switch off that competitive side of me,

which, at the moment, I can't do.

You still need to do that one, Iwan. Just do it, just do it.

HE GROANS

He's pretty much cut every part of his body that touched the tree.

Um, and he's making sure that everybody knows it, as well.

Thanks, mate. Thanks.

It's not nice, is it, that? No.

Good luck, mate.

Oh, my God!

Hands, then feet. Hands and then feet.

Hands, feet. Hands, feet.

Come on, G.

G, come on, be the first to get a coconut.

Give us a coconut. One more, come on.

I can't get down!

OK, I've got you, I've got you. I've got you.

Guide your feet off the tree, then.

'Iwan made it look easy.'

It is very, very hard and when you weigh, like, I don't know,

like 105kg, to try and shimmy that up a tree,

good luck with that, like.

I've got a blister!

Savlon, Savlon! Interview me!

Hang on, hang on!

Aaah!

You did all right, mate, you did one step.

Last to take the climbing challenge is Donovan.

Just one jump?

THEY CHEER

He's there! Oh, my God!

THEY LAUGH

He had a go, didn't he?

He was attached to the tree.

Oh, Donovan!

During his attempt,

Donovan spends just 13 seconds clinging onto the tree.

DRUMS BEAT AND BELLS JINGLE

On the way back to the hotel, the boys run into a festival procession,

celebrating the Hindu god Krishna.

There are dozens of religious festivals every year.

But it seems the ex-athletes are causing quite a stir.

I think that people are more interested in us than the carnival.

They love my trainers, all the kids are pointing at my trainers.

# Bring me sunshine every day! #

Training's over for the day,

but there's still one more discipline to learn.

The next morning, with just 48 hours to go till the competition,

Gareth's finally getting used to Indian life.

Today I'm on fire.

I feel brilliant today,

because I've kind of given myself a bit of an uppercut

to stop moaning and stop being so down and depressed.

Do you know what I really want to try and do,

is try and enjoy India now, cos I thought to myself last night,

"It's like a lifetime experience that people would die for."

'Me and India are at one.

'I'm like walking round with my shoes off, dealing with the bugs'

and everything, and everything else that's going on around here.

Yeah, yeah, I'm...

I'm there, I'm there.

Master Sunil is preparing the last element of the boys' training,

stick and shield combat.

Slowly, one, like this, two.

They'll have to memorise a complex sequence of attack

and defence moves.

Like that.

So, actually, just keep left leg in forward, so one.

When they compete, the sportsmen will be marked on the accuracy

of strikes in attack and the use of the shield in defence.

One from right side, two from left side, three from right side.

It's a load to remember again, cos we've got movement

things to remember, the sticks to remember and now these to remember.

It's nothing really natural.

It's all really having to learn things, which is a brain fry.

One, two, up, down.

They've given us a routine of ten different moves to learn,

and you've got to learn it or you're going to get hit.

I'm just pleased that we're going to get some kind of shield,

especially if I'm receiving swinging sticks from Gareth Thomas.

This is excellent. For me, you know, it's actually pretty good.

The idea of speed and accuracy is actually what this is all about,

so I'm trying to be as slow as possible now

and as accurate as possible so that, when the speed gets ramped up,

I at least know what I'm doing.

I'm loving this, out of everything we've done so far.

I'm not saying this is the one I'm better at than I have been

in the others, but I'm actually taking more from this.

No, no, no, no, no. SUNIL LAUGHS

Yes, actually. Look, one... This, look.

After this, with this. LAUGHTER

Cross, left, right.

Arms out, back and round again.

With the competition just 24 hours away,

the boys are packing in some last-minute practice.

I made a promise to the guys that I was going to go through with it,

so now I have to live by that,

so, no matter what, I'm going to be in.

Down and across. Oh!

This is the hard one when you're twizzled all the way around.

Let's do it again. And with the final test looming,

the sportsmen have got an eye on their rivals.

As competitions progress, we're all competitive,

but JT's always, kind of like, the marker for everyone.

JT's a natural athlete.

His reflexes are obviously going to be good from being

a Superbike champion, he's going at 200mph, he's got to think quick.

And the right arm.

We're going to be competing against each other,

so we do need to learn how to control this aggression,

cos Gareth looks like he's going to take someone's bloody head off.

Obviously, when it comes to competing against the other guys,

then I'm going to have to be a little bit more accurate

where I'm hitting, otherwise I could hit one of the boys

and do a bit of damage.

Spin round. Correct. That's it. Right?

That's good, D. That's it, mate.

Competition day.

In just a few hours, the sportsmen will be

fighting against each other before a panel of Kalari masters.

I'm a little bit nervous about the Kalari competition today.

There's a lot to remember on this, the routine, the stick technique

that you've got to learn, and there's the shield. So it's a lot.

You know, I've got a lot more going on in my head

in this competition than the others.

Well, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm going to do it. I will be doing it,

but I'm going to do it at the pace that I'm comfortable,

at a pace that I think I can go through it with ease.

Any opportunity I can, I've tried to go through the movements.

If I go into it having not prepared and get it wrong,

then that's disrespectful, so I feel you've got to go into it

with at least pretty good knowledge of what you're meant to be doing,

hope you hold it together under the pressure,

and show the master that we're very grateful

to be accepted into this way of life.

But Gareth's taking his preparations one step further.

Well, as I said I was going to become one with India, I thought,

"How can I be like everybody else in India?"

So, I thought I would grow a moustache. Why not?

My Indianism transformation is complete.

So, when I turn up to Kalari, I'll have an edge on the other boys.

The competition is taking place at Master Sunil's second Kalari school

in Calicut, and he's arranged a traditional welcome.

I'll probably look like I'm really competitive against the other guys.

My biggest competitor, as always, is myself

and, if I mess up, I'm going to be annoyed.

But it's going to be a really interesting day.

It's a demonstration sport where we're trying to show

what we've learnt and we've tried to master the art of Kalari,

so I'm just going to try and go not too fast, actually,

and just go through the routine, try and be fluent and try and really

get the bends and the body position as well as I can.

I can see it, I can observe it. Hopefully, I'll finish the routine.

This is for real, then, boys, this is for real.

Spin around.

The pressure is on. Pressure's on for who?

For you. No, no pressure. Yes. No pressure.

This is winning, right here.

Donovan performs without pressure. No pressure.

The panel of seasoned Kalari masters have been asked to officiate

by Master Sunil.

They'll each mark the boys out of ten for each of the three

Kalari disciplines they've been studying.

After a week of training, Gareth is looking strong,

while James has been practising hard.

First, the sportsmen need to demonstrate their routine

of 28 moves.

Iwan, please come.

Iwan's the first to go.

I was called up first. I was very happy with my kicks.

I could've gone slightly faster.

Could've been better, but it could've gone a lot worse, as well.

The second, Gareth Thomas.

Let's go, G. Please wait there.

'We've been practising, practising, practising, they've built us up,'

so, all of a sudden, you've practised for this moment.

WHISTLE BLOWS

You know you have to do it in this moment,

you have to do it correctly and you have to do it in the right way.

WHISTLE BLOWS

WHISTLE BLOWS

Gareth's accurate routine is followed

by impressive focus from James.

I think, with Donovan, I can see he's been sweating,

he's been panicking. He'll say he weren't nervous about it,

he'll say that maybe he wasn't under pressure for it,

but he's going to feel the pressure, cos we all felt the pressure.

After his struggle with memorising the routine,

can Donovan pull it off?

Yes, D!

'With the quick study of a couple of days,'

those guys are obviously a much quicker study than I am,

or maybe they were a little bit more focused than I was.

Donovan did struggle with the routine, but do you know what,

I'm really happy for him, because he tried hard.

Fair play, cos he wandered out of lane one today

and he got into lane two, maybe even lane three, but he gave it a go.

Next, the sportsmen will be tested on their kettukari skills.

They'll face a timed burst of defensive moves

and then attacking moves against trained fighters.

I was nervous for the stick fight, if I'm honest,

because I know Nitin, or Jet Li, as I call him, I knew he was going to

go at me tonight, purely cos he wanted to get the best out of me.

In training, he's been quite kind, but I could see in his eyes,

actually, there was another 30%, 40% effort from him tonight.

The judges will be looking to see both hands on the stick,

good posture and eye contact. WHISTLE BLOWS

In terms of defence, I actually think I did well.

It was weird though, cos the room felt like it was getting

smaller and smaller and darker and darker,

and it was literally like a cartoon.

I was just going... I was just trying to defend myself.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Iwan was first, and seeing him defend against the guy that was

attacking Iwan, I was like, "Oh, OK. Game on, then, is it now?"

You've either practised and you can do this or not,

and he was like, wanted to literally take his head off.

In terms of the offence, when I was attacking,

I didn't really know what to do, cos my mind was still

going overload from trying to defend myself.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Stick fighting, for me, was the one I was probably

worried about the most.

I spent a lot of time hearing the stick whizz past the top of my head.

I haven't heard the sticks fly that hard at me in training.

WHISTLE BLOWS

CLAPPING

WHISTLE BLOWS

I know the marks were judged on technique,

it wasn't just about how quick and aggressive you could do it.

It was about technique, and his technique was great.

Great, G, great stance.

Show us how it's done, bud.

WHISTLE BLOWS

WHISTLE BLOWS

WHISTLE BLOWS

Well done, mate.

Then last man, Donovan Bailey.

In training, Donovan did his best in the stick fighting practice.

'They can go 100mph,'

totally relax, understanding the precision on which they operate.

WHISTLE BLOWS

I sure the hell was not going to get beaten by the man.

I mean, I had to protect myself.

WHISTLE BLOWS Well done.

'You know what's funny? I don't know if I went for him.

'Clearly, he's an expert, so I wasn't going to hit him.'

I was just watching what they had done in the previous fight,

and I was just copying.

The last item is stick versus shield

and, in this fight, you have to fight each other.

So your four names are on that.

It's time for the final part of the competition and the boys

are drawing names to see who will fight who in stick and shield.

Open and read that, OK?

Iwan.

Iwan Thomas. Donovan Bailey, Iwan Thomas.

The draw was made and Donovan was against Iwan,

which I was really, really excited for, because obviously with,

you know, the bit of rivalry that's there.

The fights between the competitors will be judged on two bursts

of offence and defence.

The sportsmen judged to have the most accurate moves

will fight each other in a final.

There was a couple of times actually when he went, "No, it's down."

I said, "No, it's not, it's to the side," and he got it slightly wrong.

Iwan's won his round. Now James faces Gareth.

Well done, lads. Really good, really good.

I just won by half a point, that's all, cos Gareth was really good with it.

The final will be Iwan Thomas and James Toseland. OK.

When I realised I was called in for the final against James,

it was interesting, and I knew he'd come at me quite hard

and I could do the same for him,

cos he could definitely handle whatever I threw at him.

Are you ready?

WHISTLE BLOWS

I was really frustrated at myself, cos I made a mistake.

I was very disappointed that I messed it up.

Stop!

The judges are conferring,

as the sportsmen wait to learn who will be crowned Kalari champion.

Please, come in.

Marks are ready.

So, the judges are going to announce the winners.

Please, come.

By coming out top in two out of the three rounds,

James is the overall Kalari winner.

'That was really good, I really enjoyed that.'

It was nice to win.

Through this whole process, James has been the best learner,

he's been the best equipped, he's probably been the best driven,

the best focused.

So, I think, for him to go ahead and win that battle,

was definitely, definitely the right call.

I think, with the racing and, and having to process information,

at, like, over 200mph, I think I learnt a bit quicker

than the other boys.

James is awesome.

He's head and shoulders above us from quickly picking up

something and transitioning that into actual action.

To come second overall, when they gave out all the marks, I was really

chuffed because, you know, there's certain aspects tonight I could've

done better, but to come second, I think that's a pretty good result.

Donovan, me and Gareth really tried hard with him,

and Iwan, to help him learn, and I'm really pleased that we all,

for the first time, we all completed it.

I had emotions going through my veins, nerves, fear,

pride, everything.

I've always said, if I can walk away tonight and think,

"Do you know what, I did all right there," then I'm happy.

James' win in India puts him in pole position for the last competition.

Off we go. Lovely.

For the final challenge...

It's like I've gone to another planet.

..the boys are heading to Japan...

It's like, how many times do you bow?

..for a unique test of nerve and focus.

The speed they came down at was frightening.

Archery, Samurai-style.

The targets seem to be so small, so the margin for error was tiny.

Desperate to do well, can Donovan find the target?

Gareth may have a win in the bank, but his fear of riding...

They are not small horses.

..could prove a massive setback.

Every slightest twitch scares the living crap out of me.

He's going into his last test with two wins out of three...

That is the scariest thing I have ever done.

..but could this push James to his limit?

Mate, I don't know if you should do this part.

I know.

If there is nothing new,

then the Court of Appeal aren't going to change their decision.